74 
iESCHYNANTHUS. 
the active or growing season—yet we may correctly infer that on 
this ripening process depends the production of flowers, and 
having thus traced our error of management to its origin, we may 
confidently pursue a different course, and, by permitting more 
sun-light, and consequently a drier atmosphere about them when 
near the completion of their growth, induce the condition favor¬ 
able and necessary to the development of the floral organs. 
To explain the detail of such a system as with existing ap¬ 
pliances may most nearly assimilate to the natural condition of 
the plants, we will begin its history in the primary state of a 
cutting. All the species are of the easiest propagation; pieces 
of the young wood from three to five joints in length, taken off 
any time in spring or summer, strike with facility when potted 
in sandy peat, covered with a glass, and plunged into a brisk 
bottom heat; supposing this to be done in April or May, the 
cuttings will have emitted a sufficient number of roots to bear 
separation in about a fortnight or three weeks. Place each plant 
into a three-inch pot, having the bottom well drained, and the 
crocks covered with a layer of moss, and the remaining space 
filled with sandy peat intermixed with small pieces of rotten 
wood or charcoal; pot the plants rather high, that is, keep the 
base of the stems at least of the same elevation as the rim of the 
pot, give them a gentle watering, and return them to the bottom 
heat. During the succeeding summer a temperature of 75° for 
the mean, with abundant moisture, should be kept about them; 
the object being to grow them as fast as possible ; and as occasion 
may present, the points of the shoots should be pinched out 
to render the plants bushy: as regards the application of 
moisture, it is not drenchings from the water-pot that is required, 
but presented more in the form of vapour; for it must be borne 
in mind these plants derive at least as much nourishment through 
their leaves as from the roots. The best means of supplying 
them in the requisite manner is to plunge the pots into a bark 
bed of the stove, and cover them with a hand-glass, or if this con¬ 
venience is not at hand, place them in a hot-bed frame, and there 
cover them in the same way : this prevents evaporation, and by 
keeping a close humid atmosphere, renders a slight syringing 
once or twice a week sufficient. The use of slightly-warmed 
