140 
CALLA .ETHIOPICA. 
manure between the rows, the subsequent waterings carry down 
the strength of this covering, and the plants are thus doubly 
benefited at less than half the trouble. Keep them quite clear 
of weeds, and occasionally stir the soil between the roots. 
CALLA iETHIOPICA, 
We are requested by a correspondent to say how this very 
popular plant may be cultivated in a window, so as to produce 
flowers; and the reply is offered the more readily, from a re¬ 
membrance of the many distressed-looking specimens, whose de¬ 
bilitated ghastliness has ere now occupied our imagination for 
days together, and whose wasted forms we would fain resuscitate. 
In the majority of cases, where the plant has the misfortune to 
be placed in a handsome basket, inside or out of a sitting-room 
window, it is absolutely starved. There is the carpet or the 
stand or the window-sill to be considered, and the previous cul¬ 
tivator’s directions to “ water it carefully,” are misinterpreted to 
mean “ be careful the water is not spilled.” Many a time, in 
our suburban peregrinations, the impulse has been almost irre¬ 
sistible, to ask permission to give the poor drooping plant what, 
“ in language mute, yet eloquent,” it was asking for,—a good 
soaking. 
In a wild state, the species is a marsh plant, and by nature a 
glutton. The little-and-often system of supplying it with food is 
therefore entirely opposed to its habits; and hence the origin of 
very many failures. 
To explain its proper management, we will suppose a tolerably 
strong plant is procured in March, not a blooming specimen, but 
a full-sized growing offset. Let it be potted in a mixture of loam 
and thoroughly decayed manure ; the proportion of the latter 
may vary from a third to one half that of the loam; a little sand 
is a beneficial addition when the mass appears too close or heavy ; 
and, in potting, place one large hollow crock over the hole in the 
pot. Keep the neck of the plant half an inch below the rim of 
the pot, and the soil of the same height. If placed in a warm, 
sunny window, it will grow rapidly, and for the first month 
should be watered every alternate day, giving each time so much 
