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THE CINERARIA. 



Thb Cineraria is one of the many 

 high-class flowers which prove to be 

 so nearly hardy that everybody may 

 cultivate them ; and this is the reason 

 why geraniums, calceolaria's, fuchsias, 

 genistas, pansies, auriculas, chrysan- 

 themums, dahlias, and cinerarias are 

 the most popular of popular flowers. 

 We will suppose all Cinerarias have 

 just done blooming. Those that were 

 really good, save ; those that were 

 poor or only middling, throw away ; 

 for it is a waste of time to propagate 

 anything of a second or third-rate 

 character. As soon as your good 

 plants begin to look shabby, cut off 

 the flower-stems, aud trim out any 

 flower-buds that may be seen pushing 

 from below ; it would be a folly to 

 let them bloom any longer, because 

 the plants would be exhausted. 

 Prepare a bed of coal-ashes in an 

 open shady place, and on this bed 

 range the pots containing the plants. 

 If any offsets have risen aud grown 

 pretty strong, slip them off very 

 neatly with a sharp knife, taking 

 care that you have as much root as 

 belongs to them, and then pile up 

 round the stem of each of the old 

 plants a little cone of fine sandy 

 mould, the more sandy the better. 

 Pot the offsets at once into small pots, 

 water them, and place them in a cold 

 frame, on a bed of ashes ; shade them 

 for a fortnight, and by that time they 

 will be well rooted. 



In the meantime the old plants 

 will, from the base of the stem, put 

 out fibres into the sandy soil that 

 was piled round the collar of each, 

 and numerous offsets will break 

 through, each of which must be 

 slipped off when possessed of two or 

 more leaves, and potted as just 

 described. In this way every good 

 plant will give you from half a dozen 

 to a dozen young ones, and you will 

 have stock to start with. If the old 

 plants are turned out into a border 

 after flowering, they will be still 

 more prolific of shoots and suckers. 



When the offsets have been 

 potted about three weeks, they will 

 require shifting into pots a size 

 larger, and though at the first potting 



any light fibrous sandy soil will do — 

 and there ought to be plenty of sharp 

 silver-sand mixed with it — at the next 

 potting they must have a soil specially 

 prepared for them, and this sod must 

 be compounded thus : — Get some 

 turfy loam from an upland pasture, 

 some two-year old leaf-mould, and 

 some fibrous peat, some very rotten 

 cow-dung, some river-sand, aud plenty 

 of broken potsherds in various sizes, 

 some being as small as peas. In 

 making up the compost, use turfy 

 loam two bushels, peat, leaf- mould, 

 and cow-dung one bushel each, and 

 half a bushel of sharp river-sand. 

 The compost must be well chopped 

 up, and brought to a friable condition 

 — in fact, made as fine as it can be 

 without sifting. Never sift your soils 

 unless specially directed to do so ; 

 the practice has marred many a good 

 man's work, who thought that fine 

 flowers and fine soil were necessarily 

 related to each other. From the 

 time the plants have this second pot- 

 ting, they grow steadily, and must 

 never get pot-bound. To know when 

 to shifi them, turn one out carefully 

 and ascertain the state of the roots ; 

 if they fill the pot, then the plant 

 must have a pot a size larger, and so 

 on till they get into eight-inch pots 

 for blooming ; but of that presently. 

 Beware of one error common to 

 beginners — never place a choice plant 

 in a pot larger than it cm fill in a 

 few weeks ; the secret of success is ia 

 the succession of shifts, one size 

 larger each time, except in the case of 

 such plants as do not bear shifting at 

 all. very few of which are classed as 

 " florists' flowers." 



Another mode of raising young 

 stock is by seed. This should be 

 sown during May and June, if 

 purchased ; and if raised at home 

 from choice specimen plants, sow it 

 the moment it is sufficiently ripe. 

 The best way to sow it is to procure 

 some shallow pans ; fill them with 

 fine light soil, water moderately, 

 sprinkle the seed thinly on the surface, 

 and just cover with silver sand. In a 

 cold pit they need n> artificial heat. 

 As soon as the seedlings have Wo or 



