Sept. 26—We have two plants of the night-blooming Cereus, or to give it its most up-to-date name, Selentcereus grandiflorus. These plants have been a source of much interest to us during the Summer: they each produced a few flowers in July, a few in August and a quantity on September 21 and 22. We counted 12 buds on one plant last week, but three of these got damaged and fell off: the remaining nine opened practically simultaneously on Sunday evening, the plant was outside in the pouring rain but this did not affect the flowers, they just ignored it and the plant seen by electric light, way a gorgeous sight, We kept a record of one of the flowers which opened on September 2 this reads as follows:—7.15 p.m. outer petals beginning to unfold. 7.30. opening, M inch wide. 740 pin. flower oven % inch, 7.50 diameter of flower, 1% inch. 8 p.m. flower, 2 inches across. 8.15. 3 inches across. 830 p.m. flower fully open, 6% inches across. We did not see the flowers close, but they had closed, never to open again, at 4 am. on Sunday. It does seem a pity that such beautiful and fragrant flowers should remain open for a few hours only, but who are we to criticize the acts of nature. The moonflower is another nocturnal-flowering plant which has been blooming: marvellously well this year: we hear of plants which had over 40 flowers open at the same time. How true are those words of one of the poets (we forget which one) "Darkness shows us worlds of light. We never see by day." There is another very fragrant flower open at the present time: this is an evergreen shrub how ever and a great favourite amongst all classe: It is often referred to by its Chinese name "Kuei hwa" and seldom as Osmanthus fragrant, as it is known in the botanical world. The "Kuei hwa" is a handsome shrub with attractive foliage and when in flower, its fragrance is delightful. We cannot refer to the plant without offering a word of advice which may prevent disappoint ment. There are a few varieties on the market one has practically entire or smooth-edged leaves, another has leaves serrated at the tips only, while still another has leaves which are very serrated or saw-like on the edges. The first-named is the variety to buy, these shrubs produce flowers in abundance while the last-named seldom produces more than a few. We have seen a few shrubs having serrated leaves. bearing flowers; but they are not comparable ith the enormous quantities borne by the smooth leaved variety—Ww..K,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.