i879-] DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 455 



which may be 48's, or 4-inch pots. The compost should consist of good 

 fibry loam and leaf-mould in equal parts, with sufficient sand to keep 

 all open. They must still be kept in a temperature of not less than 

 50°, and aired on every favourable opportunity ; also kept as near the 

 glass as may be convenient ; and an occasional dewing with the syringe 

 will refresh them very much. In the course of six weeks or so, if all 

 has gone well, they will require another shift, this time into the pots 

 they are meant to bloom in, which for ordinary work may be 6-inch or 

 7-inch pots, unless large specimen plants are desired, when larger pots 

 may be used, or better still, give another shift later on. With due 

 care and judicious feeding, however, almost as good plants may be 

 produced in a 7- or 8-inck pot as in those much larger ; and from being 

 more manageable, the smaller sizes are the more desirable. The soil 

 should be a little stronger for this shift, using less leaf-mould, and 

 enrich with some old cow-dung, or a pinch of bone-meal. About the 

 beginning of June the plants should be set in a cold frame or pit, 

 where abundance of air can be given ; or if in a frame, a current of 

 air should be allowed to play among the plants, by tilting up the 

 frame and putting a brick under each corner. It may be necessary to 

 shade them slightly for a few hours in the middle of the day, and give 

 a dewing with the syringe in the evenings. Keep a strict watch for 

 green-fly, the great pest of Cinerarias, and fumigate with tobacco- 

 smoke on its first appearance. Some kinds of Cineraria are more sub- 

 ject to the attacks of green-fly than others. The variety we grow has 

 smooth shiny leaves, not so woolly as some kinds we have seen, and 

 unless through neglect in watering, are seldom troubled with green-fly. 

 There is another form of disease which they are subject to sometimes — 

 viz., the sap exuding from the upper surface of the leaves and stems, 

 and drying in globules, so that the plants look as if they had been 

 sprinkled over with white sand. We cannot tell the cause of this, as 

 we have seen it on plants to all appearance in vigorous health, unless 

 it may have been through the plants having been subjected to too 

 bright sunshine. When the plants have filled their flowering pots 

 with roots, and begin to throw up the flower-spikes, then they may 

 have an occasional watering with liquid manure, say about twice a- 

 w T eek. 



A second sowing should be made in the first week of June and 

 treated much in the same way, only that as soon as they have been 

 pricked out and established in their small pots, they may be grown on 

 in a cold frame or pit, and shifted as they require it ; but as they are 

 to stand over the winter we would not advise larger pots to be used 

 than 6-inch. The first batch of plants will come into bloom in the 

 autumn, the second in spring. By shifting on a few at a time, or by 

 sowing oftener, a succession of bloom may be had all the year over. 

 Where distinct varieties are desired for exhibition or otherwise, they 

 must be propagated by offsets from the old plants. To get these, the 



