In growing these favorite plants, amateurs will need to remember a few hints suggested by experience. Professional gardeners have this as their creed:

1. A good, warm greenhouse.

2. Plenty of light.

3. A good thrifty plant to begin with.

In making up the earth to put them in, take this as your composition:

Turfy loam, two parts, well rotted; cow-manure, one part, well rotted; coarse sand, one part.

Mix all together by hand; use charcoal at the bottom for draining; even dry rotten moss to cover over the charcoal is useful. Plunge the pots in a bed of tan or leaves (a good bottom heat must be kept up constantly); keep the bed damp, water the plants sparingly, and never allow a drop of water to touch the foliage.

This little item seems a very small matter, yet, with some gardeners, it is kept as a profund secret.

The following is a good list of six varieties, of different shades of color:

1. Sophia Dumaresque. - Broad golden margin, dark crimson zone. Strong grower.

2. Lady Cullum. - Broad rich leaf, dark zone, margined with scarlet and gold.

3. Louisa Smith. - Green foliage, margined with gold, and red dark zone.

4. Mrs. Pollock. - Fine, large green leaf, overlaid by a beautiful bronze and red zone, edged with red, margin golden yellow.

5. Sunset. - Golden margin, broad dark zone, shaded with scarlet.

6. Italia Unita. - Leaves margined with white, bright carmine zone.