Nerium oleander.

OT many of our "fine oldfashioned plants" can equal the oleander in beauty and usefulness, and whatever goes to make up the quality called "intrinsic value." Not only is it always worth keeping as a true household plant a sort of patrician laurel-but it improves with age, and can scarcely be too large for the enjoyment of its buxom beauty, provided it does not grow, as the Vicar's family picture did, to dimensions in excess of the place it is to occupy. Occasionally, but at rare intervals, we meet with family oleanders that are creditable to their owners, and one such we remember in an especial manner, having met with it several years in succession at the Peterborough summer flower show, where we have manifested our approval of it by the award of a special prize, and perhaps a commendation in addition. This fine plant-if we may trust our memory-may be

described as about six feet in height and four feet through, leafy from top to bottom, and, when at its best, well sprinkled with glowing flowers that might be likened to roses in form and colour, averaging in size about double that of our coloured figure. A considerable number of family oleanders are kept in dark conservatories or lumberrooms all the winter, and in some obscure corner out of doors all the summer; and, although they grow a little, they are always bare, and rarely flower. All that ails them is starvation, and the remedy, therefore, is to be found in a little generous cultivation.

The oleander is a river-side plant, inhabiting parts of Western Asia and Southern Europe. All river-side plants like good living, being born to mud, water, and warmth. But a cool conservatory, safe from frost, suffices for the preservation of the plant during winter, when it should have a little water occasionally, and a temperature never lower than 35°, and for the most part not below 40°. When starting into growth in the spring, the plant needs a warm place, and therefore should be put into a sunny greenhouse, and have liberal supplies of weak manurewater. This treatment will promote a free growth, and as the shoots made this season will, if well ripened, bloom the next, it is advisable not to prune the plant at all, although, in common with all such things, it must be pruned at times to keep it within bounds, and to regulate the general contour. It is, however, of importance for the owner of an oleander to bear in mind that when the young shoots are cut back, the next year's flowers are removed with them.

When the flowering is over, the plant should be carefully taken out of the pot, and a considerable portion of

the old soil should be removed from the roots, and then it should be re-potted in the same pot, or in one only a size larger, with a rich loamy soil, and be placed again in the greenhouse. A quick, vigorous growth in the spring is above all things to be desired; but this can only be secured by means of warmth, sufficient moisture and air, and annual renewal, wholly or partly, of the soil. It is a good rule with all old family plants to turn them out once a year, and remove a portion of the old soil; then to put them into the same pots, and fill in firmly with a mixture of turfy loam and rotten hot-bed manure. Occasionally they must have larger pots, but they may be kept in the same pots for several years in succession if aided as advised, and they will grow sufficiently, and flower freely-more freely, perhaps, than if encouraged to make a strong growth by shifting into larger pots. A certain amount of vigour we must have, and the inexperienced amateur should guard himself against being led away by the common superficial talk about "starving a plant into flower." The process is often carried so far that the plant fails to flower through sheer debility, and a frequent victim of the fallacy is the noble oleander.

This handsome shrub is one of the most poisonous of its class, and therefore should be handled with care, for if the hand is cut when pruning it, a dangerous wound. may be the result. In Dr. Hogg's "Vegetable Kingdom" occurs the following respecting it :-" It is one of our most beautiful window-plants when covered with its large, roselike blossoms; but in these blossoms the weapon of death resides. During the Peninsular war a number of French soldiers who went out foraging near Madrid returned laden with the fruits of their search. One of the number, with

the view of securing some wood to make skewers for the meat, cut a quantity of oleander boughs, and, having stripped them of the bark, used the wood in the meat. The result was that, out of twelve who ate of the roast, seven died, and the rest were dangerously ill. The poisonous principle is so subtle that its exhalations alone are sufficient to cause serious accidents, and even death, to those who recline or sleep for any time under their influence."

The oleander, or rose-bay, is very respectably connected. It is a member of the natural order of Dogbanes (Apocynacea), all of which have a milky juice, and more or less poisonous properties. They are of considerable importance to the gardener, as in this order occur the yellow-flowered Allamanda, the white-flowered jasmin-like Tabcrnæmontana, the fragrant Rhyncospermum, and the glorious crimson Dipladenia.