Crassula coccinea.

HIS is one of the handsomest and most useful plants of its class, and, in common with many other garden favourites, it presents us with several variations, the results of the manipulations of the florists. The reader who does not happen to know the plant may be advised to look first in the central avenue of Covent Garden Market in June and July. The accompanying portrait will certainly assist in the identification, but the chances are that the attention will be arrested by a batch of plants having the style

of growth indicated by the plate, but with crowning corymbs of flowers of an intensely vivid carmine-scarlet colour. Now it may be proper to say that in nearly all botanical and horticultural inquiries and criticisms, colour is the last quality to be thought of, while form is the first. The splendid scarlet crassulas that will probably be seen in the market, and that one might imagine

to be floral emblems of fire-worship, are examples of the typical, or specific, or normal, or original Crassula coccinea, while the one here figured is one of its variations, for the plant gives us a choice of scarlet, crimson, carmine, and white flowers; but in every case the form and the habit of growth are the same.

There is not a plant in the country more worthy of the attention of the amateur florist than this. To grow it well a heated plant-house is absolutely necessary; but given that, the rest is easy. The first requisite to success is to raise a few young plants from cuttings, the best time for this being July. These, being rooted in three-inch pots, may be wintered in the greenhouse, where they must have plenty of light, and be safe from frost and drip. Give them the warmest and driest place in the house, and let them have sufficient water to keep the leaves plump, for if the leaves shrivel, the plants will be weakened.

As soon as they begin to grow in spring, shift them into five-inch pots. Hitherto they have been allowed to grow without check, but as soon as they are nicely established they should be stopped by nipping out the point of each. The plants must be kept rather dry for a day or so after this is done, because of the risk of the fleshy stem decaying. As the object in promoting the production of side-shoots is to secure a foundation upon which to build the specimen, the side-shoots must be tied out regularly, and pulled down a little, but not quite horizontally. They should also be allowed to grow unchecked until they are quite six inches in length, because a cluster of laterals round the main stem is not so much to be desired as a framework of stout side-shoots. As a rule, they require to be stopped twice the first season, and it is good practice

to shift them after the second stopping immediately the young shoots are about an inch in length.

They should have during the second winter quarters similar to those occupied during the first, for a light position and comparative dryness at the roots are the main essentials in keeping them in good health during the winter. Early in the spring following, shift into eightinch pots, and if it is not intended to flower them in the course of the summer, all the principal shoots should have the points nipped out shortly afterwards. The young stock ought not to be allowed to bloom until they assume their proper form, and this will not be the case until the third season from the cutting pot. If the growth made during the summer is satisfactory, they will require a second shift early in August, ten-inch pots being the most suitable for them at this stage; and after the re-potting the shoots must be tied out a sufficient distance apart, to admit of each receiving its fair share of light and air, and to ensure its being thoroughly matured.

They will require no further attention beyond the regulation of the growth, and supplying them with water, until after they have flowered, and then they will need pruning. As soon as the flowers fade, proceed to prune all the shoots moderately back-say, to within two inches of the base of each. When they have begun to grow again, turn them out of the pots, prune the long roots, and put them in pots of the same size again. Place in a cold frame, and keep the soil just moist until the roots have taken possession of it. The water supply can be increased moderately. After they have started fairly into growth, ventilate the frame freely, and when the young shoots are an inch or so in length, thin them out if there is any danger of over

crowding; but, as the plants should attain a larger size each year, the young growth must not be thinned excessively, but as they progress be tied out neatly, to afford each a fair amount of space for its development. The same system of management must be adopted in subsequent years, so that it is not necessary to allude to it further. The compost should consist of three parts of good turfy loam, and a part each of leaf-mould, powdery manure, and grit. In training specimens, the cultivator should aim at producing a solid head of bloom, convex in outline, and not unlike that of a specimen show pelargonium.

Those who do not care to take so much trouble may allow their plants to flower naturally in the first summer, in which case it will be advisable to strike a few cuttings from them and then throw them away, for unless they are well managed they become long-legged unsightly things. But for the grand culture they are grand indeed.