Familiar as this old plant is to most gardeners, and considering its usefulness in the winter season, it is strange to notice what reluctance is shown in private places to its culture. Perhaps it is owing to the fact that on the Continent it is grown extensively and to great perfection, and is sent over here at very moderate prices. Grown as these imported plants generally are in 5- and 6-inch pots, so thickly studded with their bright red berries, they are very useful and attractive objects. They command a ready sale, especially at Christmas time, when they are prized for room decoration, etc.

Seeds sown now and placed in a temperature of 65° to 70° will soon be ready for pricking or potting off; and I would recommend those who wish to be successful in the culture of this Solanum, to grow it freely or without a check at any stage of its growth; it is therefore important that the plants are not allowed to remain long in the seed-pan in a crowded state. Perhaps no better plan can be recommended than potting them, when fit to handle, into 2 1/2-inch pots, using a light rich compost. If plunged in bottom-heat, they will start all the sooner, and move freely into growth. When they have filled their first pots pretty well with roots, shift them into 4 1/2-inch pots, giving them a compost of fibry loam, leaf-mould, and well-rotted cow-manure, in about equal proportions - to this a dash of bone-meal may be added. If kept in warm quarters for a few weeks they will soon be ready for shifting into what may be termed their fruiting-pots, which should not be larger than 6 inches.

In this country they do more satisfactorily if grown throughout their first year in cold frames; for if placed in the open air, and the season be not very favourable, they are not likely to set a good crop of berries. The shape into which the plants are to be trained depends on the tastes of growers. Suffice it to say, that the more they are pinched in the early stages of growth, the more dense and bushy they become; but if pinched too late in the season, the crop of berries is likely to be small. I never pinch after the end of May, and those that are pinched then I do not expect to colour their berries in time for Christmas. I may remark that by ceasing to pinch the plants at different times a succession of crops is kept up.

This is a moisture - loving plant, and must not at any time be allowed to suffer for want of water, or it will receive a check that will stunt its growth for the season, and will most likely be at the same time attacked with red - spider. If this pest puts in an appearance on the foliage, let it be at once dealt with by the vigorous use of the syringe, using water into which some sulphur has been mixed on two or three consecutive evenings. Green-fly, however, is the most persistent enemy of the Solanum; and I find that if the plants are syringed at intervals of a fortnight with Gishurst's Compound and paraffin-oil, at the rate of 6 or 7 ounces of the former and a wine-glassful of the latter, to the gallon of water, at 80° or 85°, green-fly does not molest the plants. When they have thoroughly well-filled their fruiting-pots with roots, they should be watered with manure-water nearly every time they require watering.

Those who may be impatient of the care and attention necessary to rear plants from seed, can purchase plants, and as soon as the berries have been cut, or have dropped off, can prune the plants into shape : cutting them well back, they may be placed in a temperature of 60°, where they soon break into fresh growth. They should then have all the old soil shaken from their roots, and the latter pruned, when they may be potted into pots just sufficiently large to hold their roots comfortably, and afterwards shifted into any desirable size of pots. To make their chief growth, they should be placed on a well-sheltered border, where they will have all the sunshine possible. The pots should be plunged to the rim in coal-ashes, taking care that there is ample drainage to keep them clear of stagnant water. In other respects the treatment necessary for young plants is applicable to these.

J. Proctor. The Priory Gardens.