LETTER-BOX. 
213 
inch and a half across. The plant requires the usual treatment 
ofTigridia and other greenhouse bulbs. — Bot. Reg. 
Pentandria Monogynia—Solaneee. 
Solarium Balbisii var. Bipinnata. By no means an ornamental 
plant: the flowers are produced on large upright racemes of a 
lilac colour, and but little superior to the common potatoe. A 
native of Buenos Ayres; will grow readily in a stove or warm 
greenhouse. The plant is extremely variable both in the foliage 
and the colour of the flowers.— Bot. Mag. 
THE FLORIST’S LETTER-BOX. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
J. S. Worcester.—Of the Picottees sent only two are worth 
preserving: No. 9, to be called Diogenes, heavy-edged scarlet, 
is a good broad petal, but, like a great many others of the same 
class, rather loose. No. 15, not named, yellow, decidedly a 
good flower. Keep it by all means. 
Tyro. —Yes; pot them at once. See Calendar. 
Intruder —is by no means intrusive. The flower buds of 
your Dahlias should be thinned where too numerous, and the 
blooms intended for exhibition protected in small wooden boxes 
about eight inches square in the inside, with a glass front and a 
sliding back, which slide should have a slit in it to admit the 
stem of the flower. When the latter is placed in the box and 
the slide shut, the crevices round the stem should be filled with 
wool or cotton dipped in oil; this effectually precludes the ap¬ 
proach of earwigs or other insects. The box itself should be 
supported by a strong stake driven into the ground, to which 
one side of the box is previously nailed. Under such circum¬ 
stances, two or three days is generally sufficient to bring the 
flower to perfection. 
M. P. B. Monk Wearmouth. — Greenhouse plants require an 
average temperature of 45° during the winter. The house being 
light and airy is a great advantage, but you do not state what 
