THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 5 



The Gesneras are very useful for the winter ; the spikes of orange- 

 scarlet flowers contrast admirably with the velvet-like foliage. The 

 best way to grow gesneras is as follows. After the plants have quite 

 done blooming, and the foliage has gone off to a copper-brown hue, 

 water should be quite withheld. They should be removed to the 

 top stage or shelf of a greenhouse, where they will be warm and 

 dry, for quite two months. This plan secures the season of rest that 

 they should always have. After the lapse of this time, they may be 

 taken down and turned out of the pots, and the old soil should be 

 shaken from them, the tubers should be separated from one another, 

 and planted separately in small pots, to start, in sandy peat and leaf- 

 mould. After potting they will require to be kept in a warm 

 house, and close to the glass ; they will soon begin to grow, and 

 as they require it, let them be shifted into larger pots, taking 

 care that the soil at each shift is coarser iu texture than before, to 

 keep them growing in sufiicient robustness. A little bottom-heat 

 helps them on immensely. They should be kept shaded during the 

 hot days of summer, and by no means let them be watered overhead, 

 for it spoils their chief beauty, which is in their foliage. The tubers 

 can be started at any time of the year where there is any convenience 

 to grow them, for they may be had in flower in the middle of the 

 summer as well as at mid-winter. 



The cultivation of Poinsettia jyulclierrlma must be briefly de- 

 scribed. After they have done blooming in January or Pebruary, 

 they should be placed on one side, say under the greenhouse stage, 

 or any similar place where they can be kept dry and safe from frost. 

 There let them have a season of rest until April ; by that time they 

 will have dried off to about half-way down the stem. Cut away the 

 dried part, and remove the plants to a warm moist place. This will 

 encourage them to break from all the eyes very freely. Let them 

 be kept growing until the young shoots are about two or three 

 inches in length, then have some small pots ready with moss in the 

 bottom to quite a third of the depth of the pot, which fill up with 

 a light very sandy mould ; gently water it to settle it down, and it is 

 then ready for use. The cutting should be removed with a sharp 

 knife, and be instantly inserted in the pot, to keep the wound from 

 bleeding. They should be at once removed to the stove or propa- 

 gating frame, where they should have the benefit of a little bottom 

 heat, and they should also be kept shaded for a few days from the sun. 

 In about a fortnight or so they will be rooted nicely ; then gradually 

 accustom them to light and air until they are well rooted and begin- 

 ning to grow, when they should be removed to a warm position and 

 near the glass. After they have been repotted they should be kept 

 in a warm house, and close to the glass, and allowed plenty of air. 

 By this course of treatment you will secure nice stocky plants ; 

 they will require no other care from this stage but watering and 

 potting on as they grow. They like a soil consisting of equal parts 

 of hazel loam, rotten manure, and leaf-mould, with just enough gritty 

 sand to keep the same free. It will be necessary to keep a tire in 

 the house, especially at night, after September, and so on until they 

 form their flowers in November. 



January. 



