Orange And Salmon Clivias

Winter is the flowering season of the Clivia, with its orange, salmon, or vermilion bell-shaped flowers, and long, narrow leaves. It is a capital plant for the amateur's conservatory, and also for rooms. It is bright, and lasts well. When a large plant has gone out of bloom (and some which flowered early may have done so already), it may be split up into several smaller ones, which, if potted separately in fresh soil (mostly loam and sand), will develop, and flower well 'next winter or spring. There need be no nervousness about tearing a clump to pieces. It is built up of a series of rhizomes, each of which is really a separate organism, with its own roots and leaves. Each individual that is taken away from a mass will make a better bloomer if treated as a separate plant than if left as a mere item in a crowded mass.

The Snow-White Eucharis

There is no more pleasing warm-house plant than the pure white Eucharis Ama-zonica, and I refer to it now because the present is a good time to give it cultural attention. The foliage may be cleansed by drawing a damp sponge over it. If the pots are very much crowded with bulbs, the whole mass may be shaken out and a separation effected, the bulbs being placed in fresh pots. If the plants have not been thriving, from some unexplained cause, it will be wise to take the opportunity of the bulbs being out to search carefully, especially at the neck, for a transparent mite.

This tiny enemy is peculiar to the Eucharis, and when it finds the plants out, and establishes itself on them, it may destroy them. Steeping the bulbs in hot water in which paraffin oil has been stirred at the rate of a wineglass per quart will not hurt them, and will make things extremely uncomfortable for the mite. It will be found easier to mix the paraffin and water if half a pound of soft soap is first dissolved in the latter by boiling.

The Draught-Enduring Palm Or Aspidistra

It is a truism with gardeners that plants are as subject to injury from draught as human beings, but a lot of cold currents are required to overcome the Aspidistra. One could imagine it thriving in the passages of tube railways - those modern institutions where, to avoid walking half a mile through the streets, we plunge into the bowels of the earth, and battle with fierce winds through interminable corridors. Likewise, where we sometimes get electric shocks, like Mr. De Morgan's hero in Somehow Good. Yes, it takes a great deal to kill an Aspidistra. It is so tenacious of life that it grows on and on until the pot becomes crowded with growth. It will live even so, and it is a fact worth remembering that the Variegated Aspidistra will retain its variegation better when it is half starved than when it is grown in a good deal of rich soil. But increase is desired sometimes, in order to get more plants, and the present season of the year is as good as any for splitting up large plants. It will help the plants to re-establish themselves if they can be given the unwonted luxury of a warm greenhouse. The draughty corridor will not suit them in their unfledged state.