116 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



During the hot season when they blossom, 

 thej' must have an abundance of water, 

 liquid manure occasionally, and, if placed 

 anywhere so tint the sun beats on the pot, 

 let them be plunged inside larger pots, and 

 the space between the two pots tilled in with 

 moss kept constantly moist. 



"CDXTUKE FOR EXHIBITION. 



"To grow them for exhibition, it is best 

 to sow any time in August, but it is quite 

 possible to bloom fine plants in twelve-inch 

 pots in May, by sowing as late as the first 

 week in September. At this time of year it 

 is best to sow them out of doors, and the 

 procedure is as follows :— Select a shady 

 spot, strew it with salt, and cover it with a 

 laver of coal-ashes; then mark spaces for 

 handlights, and lay another three inches of 

 coal-ashes where the lights will stand, and 

 another sprinkling of salt within and with- 

 out the coal-ashes. This plan will give a 

 quietus to worms and slugs. Then take 

 some seed-pans or six-inch pots, half fill 

 ■with drainage, on the drainage place a few 

 lumps of tough peat or moss, and then fill 

 up with a fine compost of leaf-mould, loam, 

 and sand; water well, and leave them 

 to settle ; the next day sprinkle on the soil 

 some dry mould very fine, press smooth, and 

 sow the seeds thinly, giving them a covering 

 of sand; put a square of glass over each 

 pot, and then cover with the handlights. 



"If properly managed, the pots will not 

 require watering till the seedlings are up, 

 but if they do, dew them by dipping a hard- 

 brush in water, and then drawing the hand 

 across it, so as to scatter a fine spray with- 

 out washing up the seeds. As the plants 

 show, tilt up the squares of glass by degrees, 

 and at last take them away, and give air by 

 degrees by tilting the hand-light. At this 

 stage there is a liability to damping, and to 

 prevent that, lift the plants tenderly in little 

 patches, and prick these out into shallow 

 pans, and treat as you would cuttings for a 

 few days, watering by means of a brush, or 

 surfacing the soil by pouring the water on a 

 pieee of tile held close to the spot. Water- 

 ing overhead is a bad practice with young 

 seedlings. In about three weeks, prick out 

 again separately, an inch or so apart, and 

 then note which take the lead ; but it will 

 be worthy of notice that the backward 

 plants are likely to turn out the best. 



" The next shift will be to three-inch pots, 

 though some of the forward plants may 

 have four-inch, to be shifted again about the 

 middle of October into five-inch for blooming 

 in May. The weak ones may be pricked out 

 once more, giving them clear three inches 

 every way. After this shift, prepare them 

 for wintering; a cool frame doe3 well for 



them, indeed, they may be raised under 

 frames instead of hand-lights. All they 

 need is to be kept moist and secure from 

 frost, say in a temperature for herbaceous 

 kinds of from 38 to 46 degs. The shrubby 

 sorts will bear exposure even to 32 degs., if 

 kept hardy by a good circulation of air pre-^ 

 viously and during every intermission of 

 frost ; and though all are fond of moisture, 

 it must not stagnate much about them when 

 wintered at a low temperatur;. If in a 

 greenhouse, give them plenty of air, and 

 guard against close heat and dryness. Plung- 

 ing in moss is always a safe plan for Calceo- 

 larias in a greenhouse. If any are wanted 

 early, they may be hurried into bloom at a 

 temperature of from 50 to 60 degs., if kept 

 plunged and well supplied with air. 



"After the winter frosts are over, they 

 make a rapid start, and to keep pace with 

 their growth, shift them as they fill their 

 pots; and if large specimens are required, 

 pinch off any flower-stems that appear, and 

 give them another potting. In this way the 

 shrubby sorts will fill twelve-inch pots by 

 the end of May, and bloom superbly at the 

 end of June or the beginning of July. 

 Herbaceous kinds bloom best in six-inch 

 pots, but if kept from flowering, may be pot- 

 ted on and bloomed in eight-inch pots to 

 advantage ; indeed, the first-blooming stems 

 frequently come very irregular, and if pinched 

 off when about three inches above the sur- 

 face, and the plant shifted to a pot one size 

 larger, they throw up several stems of equal 

 strength, and if they require it, may be 

 neatly staked so as to enable them to expand 

 regularly. 



"Although shrubby Calceolarias may be 

 grown successfully in one uniform compost of 

 sweet fibry loam four parts, sand, leaf-mould, 

 and old cow or stable-dung one part each; 

 it is advisable in the final potting of the 

 shrubby kinds to adopt Mr. John Green's 

 method, the value of which is proved in his 

 great success as a raiser of first-class varie- 

 ties. He first secures good drainage by a 

 layer of potsherds, then a quantity of bog- 

 mould and cow-dung in lumps as big as a 

 hen's egg, then potsherds again, filling up 

 with a mixture of loam and well-decayed 

 cow-dung. The plants are then placed where 

 they can be shaded with gauze or tiffany, and 

 the house being closed early in the after- 

 noon, the leaves are syringed all over, and 

 the temperature kept at 45 degs. at night 

 I and GO degs. in the clay, giving air as much 

 as possible. As soon as "the plants make fresh 

 root, they may have abundance of water, 

 and, iu addition, once a week liquid manure 

 from well-fermented sheep's-dung." 



The author recommends propagating the 



