THE GENUS L/ELIA. 
267 
present deemed necessary, were it with only halt the species we 
have enumerated, will be rewarded with a rich display of floral 
beauty, and have achieved a real triumph in horticulture. And 
now for the means by which we propose to accomplish this 
task. To arrive at success we must be guided by correct 
principles, and as a primary step, it will be well to comprehend 
thoroughly the nature of the subjects to be dealt with, and to 
bear constantly in mind the leading features of the physical 
character of the countries whence they are obtained. We are 
about to cultivate plants that are natives of a climate more ele¬ 
vated and strongly marked in its changes than our own, and 
have, therefore, principally to guard against the effects of sudden 
and frequent fluctuations ; indeed, the only trouble we apprehend 
in the case will have its origin in these causes. There will be no 
difficulty in growing and flowering the species selected, but it is 
more than probable that some will arise in preventing an undue 
development; the whole art of management will rest in obliging 
them to grow only in the summer, and to remain dormant through 
our long and variable winters. Excitement during the latter 
season must be carefully avoided, as it must inevitably entail an 
endless trouble and disastrous results. 
The appliances we deem necessary are, a good greenhouse, for 
the reception of the plants when in flower and their preservation 
through the winter, and some other place, as an ordinary forcing 
pit or good-sized frame, where the necessary temperature and 
humidity may be supplied while they are growing. It will be 
absolutely necessary that all the specimens be induced to start 
simultaneously, or nearly so, and also to confine them to a single 
development in each year, for if a second growth be allowed or 
attempted, the plant’s period of activity will run so far into the 
season, that no time will be left for its thorough ripening. Let 
the growing season commence about April, which will ensure the 
entire summer for its completion, and afterwards steadily reduce 
them to the desired resting condition, when they will be quite 
safe at the warmest end of the greenhouse, till the return of 
another season. It may require two or three years to reconcile 
them to this course, and perhaps cost the lives of some few 
specimens, but once the force of natural habit is overcome, they 
will as regularly grow, flower, and rest, as any of our indigenous 
