400 THE GARDENER. [Sept. 



Avarm-tempemture plants that the Cyclamen takes amongst those that 

 adorn the greenhouse in spring. 



Any one who wishes as quickly as possible to get up a stock of 

 Gloxinias, cannot do better than purchase a packet of seed which has 

 been saved from a good named collection, and sow it about the middle of 

 September. Take equal proportions of lt)am, peat, and leaf -mould, 

 with a fifth of the whole of sand, and fill a well-drained seed-pan to 

 the brim, finishing with a quarter of an inch of finely-sifted soil, to 

 give an equal surface for the fine powdery-looking seeds. On this 

 surface sow rather thinly than otherwise ; and after merely covering 

 the seed with fine soil, water well through a fine rose, cover the pan 

 with a pane of glass, and place it in a house or pit where the tempera- 

 ture ranges from 65° to 70°. Shade from sun till the young seedlings 

 are well through the soil, then raise the jiane of glass, and after a few 

 days remove it entirely and place the pan near the glass, shading 

 from the sun when at its hottest, till the young plants are hardy 

 and able to bear the full light of the season. 



Whenever the plants are ready to handle easily, prick them off 

 into pans filled with the soil already recommended, with perhaps a 

 little finely-sifted old cow-manure added to it. In pricking them off 

 give the plants sufiicient room to keep them from getting crowded be- 

 fore February, say about 1| inch each way. The object now is to 

 keep them growing all winter, and at the same time to keep them 

 stocky ; and room and light are the two principal conditions requi- 

 site to this end. Consequently place them in as light a place as pos- 

 sible through the winter, and in a temperature ranging from 60° to 65°. 

 Do not over- water them, but at the same time keep them regularly in 

 a moist condition. By the middle of February they will be ready to 

 pot singly into 2-J-inch pots. Choose equal proportions of free fibry 

 loam and peat, and pass it through a |-inch sieve, fibre and all ; add 

 a little rotten cow-manure and sufficient sand to make it sparkle — say 

 a sixth of the whole. Drain the pots well, and when the plants are 

 potted they will do all the better if they can be plunged in bottom- 

 heat near the glass, but this is not indispensable. They dislike a dry 

 parching atmosphere, and grow most vigorously in moist stove tem- 

 perature in a subdued light ; but the latter condition must not be in 

 excess, or they will grow weakly and not flower so well. They will now 

 grow rapidly and make fine strong leaves. As soon as the roots have 

 got well to the bottom and sides of the ball, let them become mode- 

 rately dry, and shift them into 5-inch pots for blooming in, using the 

 same soil and subjecting the plants to the same growing conditions 

 recommended for them when first potted, only the heat may increase 

 as light increases. Shade just sufficient to keep the sun from scalding 



