IT never rains but it pours" may be a suitable text for a discourse on the abutilon. Only the other day--say the day before yesterday--somebody discovered that the abutilon might by careful cross-breeding be made to yield a vast variety of characters and colours. Presto ! Now there are dozens of new names and varieties, and they constitute attractive and interesting collections of decorative plants for festive dressings as well as for the quiet conservatory.

But as the florists multiplied the varieties they forgot the native inborn elegance of the plant, and were content to grow their named varieties in the form of diminutive bushes, certainly very pretty, but affording no idea of the proper splendour of the plant. Let us, the, turn from the new to the old fashion. The turn takes us into a snug conservatory, where the plants are allowed to show a little of the negligence of nature "wild and wide." Here the abutilon appears as a luxurious vine, with elegant leaves divided into pointed lobes, and bearing curious bell-like flowers of a dull orange-colour, and curiously striped. It is singular that a South American tree should obtain an Eastern name, for abutilon is Arabic for mallow, and this plant is of the mallow tribe. It is the striped mallow vine of the Rio Negro and the Organ Mountains.

The common and comparatively hardy plant introduced from Brazil in 1837 as Abutilon striatum has been found to thrive in the open border as a wall-plant in sheltered spots in the south-west of England, but, generally speaking, the cool conservatory is the proper place for it. There it soon clothes the rafters with its elegant leafage, and it has the great merit of producing flowers during about nine months out of twelve. Any good soil will suit it, and in a town greenhouse, where the light is neither abundant nor pure, it will thrive as well as any good thing that may be planted.

The named varieties to which reference has been made have been raised from A. striatum, A. venosum, A. Darwinii. and A. vexillarium chiefly, and they comprise flowers of all colours, save shades of blue, and the prevailing tones are white, yellow, and red. Amongst them are varieties with richly variegated leaves, and these are not only of great value as conservatory plants, but are largely employed in what is called "sub-tropical bedding" in grand gardens, the trees being allowed to rise to a height of two to four feet, and being mixed with other plants of like growth to bring out the splendid colours of their leafage. This is all very fine and very wonderful, of course, but we are rustic enough to prefer the half-wild abutilon vine that we courted under to all the great sub-tropical beds of contrasted leafage that have been planted in both hemispheres.

About a dozen species of abutilon are recorded in the books, but only about half a dozen (or less) are really cared for by cultivators, because of the fewness of the flowers they produce. They are all of an accommodating nature, requiring only greenhouse temperature in winter and a fairly good soil of light texture, with rational watering. A little draught and a little damp will not kill them, and although none of them are, properly speaking, hardy, yet none of them are fastidious. To strike cuttings in summer is easy work, but those who soar high in abutilon culture must learn to graft or bud the rarer kinds on nice young stocks of A. striatum or A. vitifolium.

Of the varieties there are at least a dozen that deserve a place in every greenhouse. It is important, however, to select the most distinct and free-flowering, for they differ much in relative merit. The very best are the following:-Anna Crozy, the flowers lilac-pink, veined with white; Chinois, flowers large, pale orange-shaded red; Darwini compacta, bright rose, reticulated with crimson ; Le Grelot, rose shading to magenta; Louis Marignac, delicate pink; Princess Marie, rosy lake; Prince of Orange, orange-red, veined with crimson; Reine d'Or', clear gold yellow; Seraph, pure white; Vesuvius, brilliant red. The best of those with variegated leaves are Darwini tesselatum, Niveum marmoratum, Sellowianum marmoratum, and Vexillarium variegatum. These thrive in common soil, and are fine decorative plants for the summer garden.

The genus sida is nearly related to abutilon. It has been said that the species of sida flower with such punctuality that a complete dial of flowers might be constructed by the aid of the several species. Perhaps.