These old inhabitants of our stoves are neglected plants in many gardens, and in the majority entirely discarded. It is to be regretted that such good and useful plants are cast aside to make room for others of perhaps less beauty and use. Few plants are easier grown, or attain a good size quicker, if subjected to liberal treatment All the stove varieties make capital plants for exhibition purposes, and look magnificent amongst a collection of flowering-plants, when well grown and neatly trained. They are even more striking in a collection of plants, especially V. alba and V. occulata, than many other plants grown for the purpose and exhibited. Not only are they useful for exhibition, but admirably adapted for home decoration during the whole or greater portion of the year. They come quickly into bloom, and can be flowered early in the year; and with judicious care, and a number of plants, a succession of bloom can be maintained through the whole summer and winter months. It is during the autumn and winter that they are of the greatest value : a few plants of V. alba, with its snow-white flowers, are very striking, and harmonise well with the brilliant flowers and bracts of Poinsettias, Euphorbias, and Plumbagos. Many winter-flowering stove-plants have their flowers other than white; and any useful plant that will produce white flowers at that season of the year should be grown in quantity.

The Vinca is useful for cutting, though few perhaps give it credit as being serviceable for this purpose, as their flowers individually last only a short time - but, being produced in quick succession, they are admirably fitted for cutting. The shoots remain fresh in water for several weeks, and continue to develop their blooms.

Vincas are readily propagated by cuttings at any season of the year. The young shoots are preferable, and root quickly when placed in heat: it is not necessary to place them under bell-glasses or in propa-gating-frames to obtain a successful strike. Most of the cuttings will root if shaded from direct sunshine, and strike with such certainty that they should be placed singly in small 2 - inch pots. When placed thickly together in pots, they are frequently left to grow together until their roots become matted, and when potted singly they are severely checked. Quick-rooting subjects are therefore best placed at first in small pots. When well rooted, the points of the young plants should be taken out to induce them to branch; and when signs of growth are again visible, they should be placed in 4-inch pots. The drainage should be liberal, and the soil only pressed moderately firm into the pots. Potting must be done from time to time when the plants are ready; and if specimen plants are required, those selected for that purpose should be placed in 7-inch and then in 10-inch pots, which will be large enough the first season. When small decorative plants only are required, 6-inch pots are large enough, and the shoots should be kept well pinched until placed in that size.

They should then be allowed to come into flower, and will continue for a long time; and should be thrown away after flowering, to be succeeded by a later batch of young plants. When growing for decoration during any season of the year, young plants grown on to the desired size are preferable to retaining old plants after blooming. When pinching the shoots, a few of the toppings should be rooted, in order to maintain a continuous supply. If they are to be grown into specimens, some little discretion must be exercised in stopping and regulating the shoots as they progress; but if neglected in this respect, and allowed to grow unstopped, much time is wasted in laying the foundation of creditable plants. The shoots must be brought down to the rim of the pots, tying them to a few small stakes to keep them in their place, which will be all the staking required the first season. A good round bush will be produced by the end of the growing season if propagated early; or better still, if rooted now, then a vigorous start can be made early next year, and much larger plants produced than if spring propagation is depended upon.

Water should be liberally supplied to Vincas; in fact they should never be allowed to suffer from the want of it at any time while growing, or the wood soon becomes hardened, and growth is severely checked. Vincas are much improved, and continue to flower over a greater space of time, if manure-water is freely given them after the pots are full of roots. During the winter the plants do not require nearly so much water, especially those that have done flowering, and require to be kept through the winter to be grown on again the second year. While resting, they should have a temperature of 55°, and be kept moderately dry at the root - only sufficient water being given to keep the wood from shrivelling and the foliage from falling prematurely. They will stand being well cut back in the spring - an operation which must be practised when they have attained a suitable size, or they soon become unmanageable. Hard cutting back is not necessary the first season, and little pruning will be required if attention is paid to stopping the shoots as they grow; nor should they be kept quite so dry at the root during their first season of rest, as is beneficial when the plants have attained a good large size, and have abundance of well-ripened wood.

The one-year-old plants should, if they do well, have a liberal shift early the second season, when they will grow to a large size. If only partially rested through the first season, the roots should not be much disturbed when potting them. But when they have attained a suitable size, and have been well cut back, and have commenced again to break into growth, they may be well reduced at potting-time, and replaced again in the same size of pot. The second season's treatment is much the same as the first, only the plants can be allowed to flower towards the end of summer, or early autumn of their growth. The shoots should be stopped as they grow, and the growths supported with a few stakes as they require it. When grown for exhibition, more stakes will be required in training the plants than are necessary "when grown entirely for home decoration," and the plants should be well filled with young wood. The same shape should be adopted that is common with Heaths when grown for exhibition.

The compost most suitable is rich loam, manure, and leaf-mould, with plenty of coarse sand and a quantity of charcoal mixed with it, to keep the whole porous. Vinca alba and its red-eyed variety V. occulata are the two most worthy of being grown. V. rosea is not so serviceable, and its flowers are not very brilliant in colour. Wm. Bardney.