26 
THE FLORIST S JOURNAL. 
more abundant flowering, and also to the ripening of seeds, if 
the flowering does not take place too late in the autumn. 
Nor is this a vague opinion, founded upon mere hypothesis, 
for it is in accordance with a general law of the growth of plants. 
When plants of a character approaching to polar are carried to 
tropical countries, they perish if those countries have strong 
contrasts of drought and rain, and if they have moisture enough 
to sustain them at all times, they have a tendency to become 
evergreen, or rather evergrowing, and have little or no dispo¬ 
sition to flower. 
That the converse of this should hold true is a matter of almost 
necessary inference, namely, that tropical plants brought into 
pretty high temperate climates should lose part of their merely 
growing energies, become better flowerers, and have a tendency 
to become annuals. The plant is, as it w r ere, thrown chiefly 
upon the functions of flowering, both for the immediate and the 
ultimate continuation of the species, and it is a general law of 
nature that to this its energies should be chiefly directed. This 
is a most important principle in Horticulture, and we may add 
that it is one according to which every judicious and skilful 
florist works, whether he may happen to be acquainted with the 
rationale of it or not. But it is of great importance to be ac¬ 
quainted with the principle, because then the practice can be 
easily and successfully extended to new subjects. 
Bulbs form an exception, though not an absolutely complete 
one. Most of them are hardy enough for bearing our climate 
in the season of their growth and flowering, and, by taking up 
and drying the bulbous roots, we can give them something like 
a tropical climate, and by the use of well-chosen composts we 
can give them a tolerable approximation to a tropical soil. Even 
they, however, follow the general law of change of climate to 
some extent; they run less to stem and leaves, and more to 
flower, than they do in their native regions. 
We shall now consider the influence of our excess of day in 
summer, and deficiency in winter, upon those more decidedly 
tropical plants which require artificial heat, and afterwards pro¬ 
ceed to the summing up of the whole for practice. Tropical 
