The Pharbitis. rubro-coerulea should be sown in a warm bed, and under glass, redressed, and put into a warm greenhouse; or, simply sow it, soon after, in a warm greenhouse, in March or April. Its very tender stems require to be trained, twined into juniper branches', or any other small shrub with strong twigs. Later, place these stems within reach of some branched bush, to pass the summer, and the plant will very soon cover and ornament it. It will there display during the whole summer its numerous flowers, which are very large, and of the purest cerulean blue color! Here and there, a flash of carmine will ornament some part of the corolla. - Flore des Serres.

Culture #1

Let amateurs ignore the innumerable amount of forms and varied color which the flowers of the bulbs of the Gape and similar countries offer! How many persons attached for many years to certain kinds of culture, wearied with forms well known to them, are delighted at the sight of these Amaryllidaceae, Liliaceae, Iridaceae, which they enjoy for the first time 1 Why is it they are so opposed to common things? Who has not cultivated Crocuses, this little, welcome flower of the spring? Well, the generality of bulbs scarcely offer any more difficulty in the culture, with only this simple difference: that the bulbs from the Cape need the protection of glass from continued rain and snow 1 And as to the frost, the shutters above the glass protect them from that, with the help of a little manure during the coldest weather.

* See Frontispiece.

To amateurs who would wish to try the culture of the Cape of Good Hope bulbs, we will say; A hollowed square flat, of about a foot in depth, formed of two tiers of common, and one of fresh earth, farnished below with a thick bed of rubbish, of pebbles, etc., in order to facilitate the running away of water, is encircled with a box, which is surrounded with old straw or tan, to pretent the frost from penetrating it. At the beginning of October, yon plant the bulbs firmly, according to the relative height of the plants, from three, four, to five inches in depth, Rest the frames on the box, and daring the winter keep out dampness, giving them air whenever the temperature will allow it, and cover them up with manure or straw when there is a threatening of frost By the first days of spring-, all the bulbs (of which many have started in winter) are in full vegetation. At this period, air it extensively if yon can, but cover it up when the rain comes. At last, the frost entirely gone, you can carry away the box, and in this way the flat square makes the ordinary garden soil, with a very pleasing effect.

After the flowering, if it is not wanted to go to seed, cut off the useless peduncle, and, consequently, the withered flowers; set the bulb upright, and separate the sprouts from it, and keep both of them in a very dry place, to replant them, as we have said, in the month of October.

The seed plot is made in the autumn or spring, in a well drained spot, with compost of sifted earth. The second year, the plant can be settled, and the greater part of the young plants will begin to flourish from this time. The sprouts may be treated precisely as the parent.