176 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



and, moreover, they always produce their flowers in a series of 

 efforts, and not continuously. The proper time to propagate them 

 is from the middle of September to the middle of November, 

 when they do not require heat ; but they may be very quickly 

 multiplied by cuttings in a gentle heat in spring ; and, if the bummer 

 is favourable to calceolarias, spring-struck plants do well, though 

 they do not begin to flower so early as those struck in autumn. 

 There can be no better method of procedure than to make up a 

 bed of light soil, consisting of such materials as leaf-mould, 

 sweepings of a manure heap, half-decayed moss, and the sandy 

 stuff thrown out of pots in the potting-sheds. The bed should be 

 in a frame or pit, within a foot of the glass, or on the border of a 

 cool vinery or peach-house, as near the glass as possible. Prepare 

 the cuttings from soft side-shoots, and plant them firmly in the bed, 

 about three inches apart, and keep them regularly sprinkled to 

 maintain their freshness until they are rooted, after which they will 

 require but little more attention beyond watering, ventilating, and 

 protecting from frost. They must be wintered rather dry, and have 

 plenty of air, or many will perish. There is yet another extremely 

 simple, but most effectual, method of procedure. Its first requisite 

 is a greenhouse, or pit, which is sufficiently heated to keep out 

 frost. In this structure the bed is to be made up near the glass, of 

 some such light kindly soil as recommended for the frame. Leave 

 the plants in the ground until the middle of October, or, if the 

 weather permits, until the middle of November ; then pull them 

 to pieces so as to separate the best young shoots with a heel, 

 and strip the bottom leaves from them, and dib them in, and 

 press them firm, and the work may be considered finished. As for 

 the roots, throw them away. They may be crowded together so as 

 to make a solid field of leafage ; but, as a rule may be useful, we 

 will say plant them three inches apart. A slight sprinkle over 

 the tops occasionally will be good for them, but they must be 

 kept rather dry, and must have a little heat to help them through 

 frosty weather. No matter which of these two methods be adopted, 

 the whole of the plants must be lifted in the first week of March, 

 and be planted out in beds of light rich earth in frames facing the 

 south, where they wall make rapid progress if taken care of. The 

 latter part of the month of April is the proper time to plant 

 calceolarias ; if the planting is deferred the plants are endangered. 

 The beds for calceolarias should be prepared by deep digging and 

 liberal manuring with rotten hotbed manure and leaf-mould ; and if 

 there is no leaf-mould at command, use an additional dressing of the 

 hotbed manure in place of it. If planted in poor ill-dressed soil, 

 the plants are endangered ; in fact, the principal reason of the failure 

 of the calceolaria in a hot dry season is defective root-hold, the 

 result of planting late in poor soil, the plants having been already 

 nearly starved to death in pots as a preparation for their final 

 extinction. In the operation of planting, the plants should always 

 be put into the ground as deep as possible, but of course without 

 burying the branching portion of the stem. Deep planting encou- 

 rages the formation of a fresh set of roots, and places the roots 



