ALPINIA

(in honour of Prosper Alpinus, an Italian botanist). O RD. Zingiber aceæ. A rather large genus of stove herbaceous perennials, with considerable grace and beauty. Flowers disposed in terminal spikes. Leaves lanceolate, smooth, even, entire, sheathed at the base, and having transverse veins. Roots fleshy, branched, having much of the smell and taste of ginger. The soil can hardly be too rich for the succe ful culture of these plants. A mixture of equal parts loam, peat, leaf mould, or thoroughly rotted hotbed manure, freely mixed with sharp sand or fine charcoal dust, forms an excellent compost. During the growing season, a top dre ing of rotten dung, and a frequent application of weak manure water, prove excellent stimulants. They grow rapidly and consume a great deal of food in the production of so much stem and so many leaves. Unle the former is vigorous and of considerable thickne , it will fail to be crowned with spikes of flower. Alpinias require a high temperature, a rich, light soil, abundance of water, and not a little space, to grow them well. Soon after flowering, the plants will a ume the yellow leaf, when water may be gradually withheld; but no attempt should be made to dry them off too severely, even after the stems die down. Nor must they be stored when at rest in a low temperature; in fact, they require as much heat to preserve them in health when resting as at any other time. The best time to divide the plants is after the young shoots have made an inch of growth in spring.