THE CALCEOLARIA. 



83 



the instructions for the choice of plants when 

 in flower ; for as he would pick from the 

 stock of others for his own garden, so ought 

 he to select from the stock of seedlings such 

 as are worth cultivation, and throw or give all 

 the rest away. Indeed, as the flowers come 

 out, all that are good for nothing should be 

 cast out the instant they are discovered, that 

 they may not spoil the seed of the better ones 

 by inoculation. 



Treatment op Plants after bloom. — 

 The branches should be cut back a little into 

 form, the useless or thin wiry shoots cut out, 

 the i»lants cleansed, the top surface of the com- 

 post stirred and thrown out, and a fresh top- 

 dressing put on. They may stand in their 

 frames, receiving pretty nearly all the 

 weather, except the most violent of the rains 

 and east winds, until September, when they 

 must be deprived of more wet than is absolutely 

 necessary, and be secured against frost. As 

 the plants enlarge, they will require other 

 pots, but they may enjoy a period of com- 

 parative rest from the end of October till they 

 make a fresh move in the early spring ; 

 however, plants of good shrubby habits do 

 not actually stop growing at all. Before they 

 are shut up for the winter, the surface should 

 be stirred, the loose mould shook oif, and the 

 pots filled up level ; they will scarcely want 

 watering all the winter, unless it be unusually 

 bright and warm. 



Spring Shifting. — The established plants 

 and seedlings alike require to be removed to 

 larger pots as soon as there are any symptoms 

 of nuxking new growth, that is, jjresuming the 

 pots are full of fibres, or at least tliat these 

 have reached the side. The sized pots in which 

 they are to be placed must depend on the size 

 they are removed from ; from 60s to 48s, from 

 48s to 32s, from 32s to 24s, from 24s to IGs, 

 and 16s to 12s, which is large enough to car- 

 ry a very handsome, well-grown specimen. 

 The mode of shifting has been described. 



Cuttings. — In going over all the plants, 

 to see that there are no useless shoots left on, 

 many will be found that may be removed, by 

 merely breaking them ofi" from the base ; very 

 small ones will answer all the purposes of pro- 

 pagation. Those who require many will grow 

 a few plants pretty hard after blooming, to in- 

 duce shoots on purpose to take ofi", but any 

 small pieces will strike readily in the ordinary 

 compost, with a quarter of an inch of silver 



sand at top. The cuttings must be put in so 

 as to touch the compost, but not to go into it, 

 and the sand will always protect them from the 

 air by working down close every time it is 

 watered. They should be covered Avith a bell 

 glass, that touches all around the inside of the 

 edge of the pot ; but as most cuttings strike 

 more readily when placed close round the 

 edge, so as to touch the pot, it is better to fill 

 a pot with cuttings all round the edge, and to 

 place this pot inside another, with a good 

 inch of room all round ; the bell glass resting 

 upon the soil, which must be filled in between 

 the two pots. The object of the glass is to 

 exclude drafts of air, and prevent evaporation 

 from taking place too rapidly. A slight 

 bottom heat will facilitate the striking, but 

 the glass nuist be wiped dry inside every day, 

 and the soil kept moist, for if once the cut- 

 tings become dry, they would stand a poor 

 chance of recovering. In a few weeks the 

 cuttings will begin to grow, which is a pretty 

 sa"e indication of their having struck, and 

 when they have acquired some strength of 

 root, they may be potted off" carefully, one in 

 each pot, which nuiy be the smallest or thumb 

 pot, or the first recognized size, small 60s. 

 They should be closed up in a frame a day 

 or tv.o, and flien submitted to the treatment 

 already described for plants brought in, which, 

 with some varieties, are rarely more than a 

 struck cutting in the first separate pot. 



The kinds to select. — A very minute 

 descrij.tion of each separate variety would 

 have a great degree of sameness ; for the va- 

 riety is occasioned by the different shapes of the 

 spots as much as anytliing. ^Ve thei'efore give 

 a list of the sorts we should buy to begin with, 

 and sliould then be content to take in addition 

 any tliat appeared better in blooming time, but 

 none that were worse : — 



Lady Anne Charteris, Professor "\Vilson, 

 Duchess of Sutherland, Kinghornii, Lady 

 Blantyre, Celebration, Lady Constable, Stan- 

 dishii. Masterpiece, Puissant, Julia, Emperor, 

 Oscar, Lord Hardinge, Marmion, JMarqnetry, 

 Matchless, Orlando, and Plant's Carnation 

 Stripes ; which last is a singular strain, en- 

 tirely run away from all the others. 



The Properties of the Calceolaria. 

 — The plant should be shrubby ; the halat 

 bushy ; the wood strong ; the foliage thick 

 and dark green. 



The flower-stem should be short and strong; 



