1871.] AUTUMN AND WINTER PLANTS. 161 



kept in check. Tobacco for fumigating them is still as useful and 

 simj)le a method of destroying them as any. Clark's insect-destroyer 

 stands high with us, both for fruit-trees and plants, it is so cleanly. 

 Cinerarias and Primulas require plenty of light and air after they 

 are up, and they should be pricked off into pans or potted in small 

 pots. Cinerarias require very cool treatment, and not exposed to 

 broiling sun. Primulas require more encouragement and lighter soil, 

 in which is plenty of leaf-mould. Balsams, Cockscombs, and Globe 

 Amaranths do well when sown now. They require bottom -heat 

 at the beginning, plenty of light and air as they grow into speci- 

 mens, and may be flowered in cool positions. M. T. 



NOTES ON AUTUMN AND WINTER FLOWERING 

 PLANTS. 



I PURPOSE giving a few notes on plants that bloom between the time 

 when frost generally puts an end to flowers outdoors, and when plants 

 that bloom in summer and early autumn have done their work, and 

 the time when what are generally known as spring-flowering things 

 come in. This is a very important period of the year, for while now- 

 adays the demand does not slacken, the supply becomes more limited 

 in both variety and quantity ; consequently the gardener cannot de- 

 spise the very commonest subject that can aid him in meeting the 

 demands made upon him for blooms at this season. 



ScluzosfyJls coccinea. — This is a most useful plant when properly 

 managed. It makes a fine show all the autumn months. Being of a 

 bright scarlet colour, it mixes well among the Chrysanthemums ; and 

 when the spikes are cut, they, like the Gladioli, expand their very 

 last bloom, placed in water in an ordinary room. To have it fine in 

 autumn it should be planted out immediately : all danger from frost 

 is past in rich soil. If it has been grown in large pots the previous 

 season, it should be divided into moderate-sized pieces, as it grows 

 rapidly into large clumps. 



In planting, put them rather deep in the ground, pressing the soil 

 firmly all round them, and giving a good watering when finished. If 

 at all a favourable season, they will require very little attention, except 

 an occasional watering with liquid manure ; and if long-continued dry 

 weather set in, we find a good mulching of an old Mushroom-bed very 

 beneficial. By the middle of September they will be large plants, 

 beginning to show their flower-spikes j and whenever they make their 

 appearance, no time should be lost in getting them all lifted and 



