iSyi.] CULTURE OF THE CINERARIA. 315 



March) they had been kept in the frame, but they were now transferred 

 to the shelves of the greenhouse. 



Now began my acquaintance with green-fly. I soon found that these 

 insects are most partial to the foliage of the Cineraria, and that if strin- 

 gent measures are not taken to keep them in check, they soon make a 

 handsome plant — the pride, it maybe, of the amateur's heart — a thing 

 to be looked on only with disgust. I now had recourse to fumigation 

 by tobacco to get rid of the unwelcome intruder ; and so, having pro- 

 cured a small quantity of shag-tobacco, I took a flower-pot, and, having 

 put a few red-hot cinders in the bottom, I put over them some of the 

 tobacco, andj using a pair of house bellows to keep the tobacco burning 

 by a puff or two of air occasionally, I soon managed to fill the house 

 so full of smoke that I was glad to beat a hasty retreat into the open 

 air. This smoking was done in the evening, and next morning I made 

 my way as early as possible to see the effect of the fumigation, and was 

 very well pleased indeed to find the greater part of the enemy either 

 dead or dying. Some few days after this I noticed a few of the largest 

 bottom leaves withered-looking, which I attributed to the smoke, and 

 which subsequent experience has proved to be the case. But here I 

 must say that the same thing may be caused by neglect in giving water 

 when the plants require it, and in the full vigour of their growth they 

 require a good supply to support their abundant foliage. 



After having got rid of green-fly, I found there was another enemy 

 at work on the large leaves of some of the plants. The path he had 

 taken was marked out by the green colour of the leaf being completely 

 gone, leaving a seared and withered track. This enemy, being perhaps 

 aware of the smoking the green-fly had got, was found to have taken up 

 his station between the upper and under surfaces of the leaf, and could be 

 seen by transmitted light. When seen, instead of removing the leaf 

 altogether, that part where the grub was, was subjected to a good squeeze. 



Notwithstanding these drawbacks, I had soon the satisfaction of 

 seeing my plants come one by one into bloom, and delight the eye by 

 their beauty, and the sense of smell by their fragrance. It was the 

 month of April in the year following that in which the seed was sown 

 before the last plant had done blooming, and I considered that the 

 satisfaction I had had, and the pleasure in seeing the fine heads of 

 bloom, amply repaid me for the attention I had to bestow upon them. 

 I have never wanted Cinerarias in my little greenhouse since that time, 

 and I find that the treatment I have described above answers com- 

 pletely. When the plants are done blooming they are consigned to 

 the manure-heap, as the strain is now so good that sufiiciently good 

 plants for general purposes may be got from any packet of good seed. 



Ety Glad. 



