82 



THE CALCEOLARIA. 



for the stems would grow, and if confined, 

 would be bent, unless the tie were loose enough 

 to slip up with the growth. As the blooms 

 develope themselves, it is the fashion to put 

 the plants in a house, but shading and plenty 

 of air must be attended to as usual, and plenty 

 of water must be given. According to the size 

 of the plants, so must the pots be increased 

 in size as fast as the roots fill up the old ones; 

 and a continuance of watering, giving air, and 

 shading will bring them to perfection. 



Seeds and Seedlings.— The plants des- 

 tined for seeding should be placed toge- 

 ther in the open ground, or in a pit which 

 can be altogether uncovered when necessary. 

 If it be intended to fertilize one particvilar 

 kind with another, take a camel's hair pencil, 

 to collect the dust of the one, and brush the 

 pistil of the other with the camel's hair pencil, 

 and the dust will stick to the female organ of 

 the plant ; but it is far better to place such as 

 are considered good together in one place, and 

 let them fertilize themselves. Cover them 

 against excessive rains, because they are im- 

 favorable to the seeding of any thing, but in 

 an ordinary season they will seed plentifully ; 

 and all that is necessary is to place none for 

 seed that have not any distinct characters, and 

 very desirable ones, so that any kind of mix- 

 ture may bring two good properties together in 

 one flower, which are at the beginning in two 

 separate ones. The seed must be gathered 

 carefully as it approaches ripeness, and the 

 pods be placed in a paper under cover, where 

 it will not be prematurely laid by in a damp 

 or unripe state. It is better to gather it before 

 it actually turns brown, because it ri]3ens as 

 Avell for a week on the stems cut off, when 

 once it is full grown, as it would on the plant. 

 When once dried well, it may be sowed in 

 pans or boxes, or large-mouthed pots, thinly 

 and evenly, and be placed in the green-house, 

 or in the pit, and covered with a bell glass 

 luitil it comes up ; providing at all times for 

 sufiicient moisture to prevent the seed from 

 drying again after having swelled. It should 

 also be shaded from the heat of the sun. Upon 

 the whole, the seed, when sown, would be better 

 in a green-house, covered however, with a hand 

 or bell glass, and kept merely a little moistened 

 by watering with a very fine rose or a patent 

 syringe, for the water should fall in very fine 

 pai tides like dew, as the seed would be dis- 

 placed by it. When the seeds come up they 



should be carefully shaded, and the glass 

 should be taken ofl' by day, and put on again 

 at night. A simple and effective shade is to 

 merely cover the side of the glass next the sun 

 with a piece of paper ; it keeps oiF the bright 

 and burning heat without materially affecting 

 the light. When the plants fairly set off grow- 

 ing, the bell or hand glass may be removed 

 altogether ; and as soon as the plants are large 

 enough to handle, they may be pricked out, in 

 wide-mouthed pots, an inch apart, beginning 

 a row close to the edge and working inwards ; 

 a pot will hold a good many plants this way. 

 After a very gentle watering with a fine rose or 

 syringe, they should be covered with a glass 

 and placed within sight near the window in 

 the green-house or in the pit ; the glass must 

 be kept over them until they have fairly estab- 

 lished themselves, when it may be taken off, 

 and they may grow until they pretty well 

 touch each other. When they have become 

 strong, and the foliage nearly covers the pot, 

 they may be placed one each in the large 60 

 size pots, and be set in a frame, and after wa- 

 tering them, to settle the compost about their 

 roots, they may be shut up close for a day of 

 two; they must be now shaded from the 

 violent heat of the sun for a while, but when 

 they have once got hold again, and established 

 their roots, all the care required is to see 

 they are well and frequently watered in hot 

 weather. They will show their habits very 

 early, and if we were growing them we should 

 throw away all that showed they were her- 

 baceous, for to say the truth, we do not value 

 them more than we should a single pink or a 

 double pol3'anthus. If the pots fill with roots 

 towards the winter time, the changing to 

 larger ones had better be deferred to the period 

 at which they begin to grow again, as they 

 can hardl}^ be kept better than at rest during 

 the severe weather, if there be any. As the 

 early spring approaches, they may be all shif- 

 ted into 48 sized pots ; or if there are more 

 than can be conveniently grown in pots, they 

 may be held back, or a portion of the least 

 promising habits may be held back, to bed 

 out or put in the borders. The treatment, in 

 short, of the seedling plants when once thej 

 have been raised, up to the filling of the small 

 pots, may be assimilated to that already given 

 for other plants. 



Selecting from Seedlings. — We can- 

 not do better than refer the reader back to 



