THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 175 



HOW TO GROW THE HEEBACEOUS CALCEOLAEIA. 



What a fine thing it is when well done ! — regularly and well. 

 To do them annually, you must sow about the end of July — say 

 about the 22nd — in pans of fine sandy earth, placed in a rather cool, 

 moist, and sliadij intermediate stove. Until well up, and until the 

 sun waxes rather weak in autumn, you must shade the pans and 

 little seedlings with a newspaper — (mind the house must be moist 

 and shady in addition to this) — and you must keep potting away at 

 your seedlings all the autumn and winter. Never let them get in 

 the least degree pot-bound. They vary wonderfully, as well in con- 

 stitution as in marking ; and you will hardly have two plants alike 

 as to strength or size, with all gradations down to the tiniest. 

 Therefore you must alu'ays be " on the look-out" for the most 

 advanced, and have a potting turn once a fortnight. The soil should 

 be a light rich loam, with plenty of sand and leaf-mould, and in 

 addition a little rather fresh horse-droppings. By the middle of 

 February you will be able to introduce your strongest batch to the 

 greenhouse, to be removed after a week's stay to comfortable cold 

 pits, in which the plants may be now and then fully exposed to the 

 mild air or gentle rain. You will follow, weekly, with the remaining 

 sizes and batches, till all are in the cold pits gathering final strength 

 for flowering. Above all other plants, herbaceous Calceolarias must 

 be kept thorougJihj clean. 



HOW TO IMPEOYE THE BLOOM OF TOTE CEOCTJSES. 



Allow the leaves of all crocuses to be fully developed, and to 

 grow until they stop of their own accord, and you will have fine 

 flowers the next season. If you catch a gardener plaiting the leaves 

 or tying them in knots, kick him out. 



A BEILLIAXT FLOWEE-BED. 



Select or make a small isolated bed in some spot fully exposed to 

 the sun, and let it contain fine sandy peat, or fine sandy soil of any 

 other kind ; and let it be well drained, of course ; and place a few 

 rustic stones round the margin and through the bed, half or more 

 buried in the soil, so that the whole will be elevated a little above 

 the grass level. Over the bed, beside the stones, etc., plant a few, 

 a select few% of the best dwarf Seclums and Saxifrages, of the en- 

 crusted section ; and, perhaps, if you are fond of them, a few of the 

 very choicest spring bulbs, such, for instance, as that little Siberian 

 exquisite JPiisclLldnia scilloides, just to vary the bed a little at all 

 points, and give it unsurpassed charms ;in spring. But for the 

 brilliancy and chief beauty you must have a number of plants of a 

 very beautiful hardy perennial, Calandrinia umhellata. Make the 

 groundwork of your bed of these, and put a few good specimens on 

 the little elevations about the highest points and tiny rocks in your 

 little bed. Plant in spring, give a good soaking of water in dry 

 weather, and wait for the result. The Calandrinia is a continuously 

 blooming plant, and when it begins to flower, if well grown, you may 

 expect a display of the purest magenta-coloured flowers for many 

 weeks. 0'SHA^E. 



