HINTS ON GROWING CALCEOLARIAS. 



Amateurs in general, consider the culture of this plant rather difficult. I have, myself, 

 seen number^ under what is termed cultivation, in most miserable condition, huddled up 

 together in small pots, struggling for existence, and placed so far from the glass that they 

 vainly sought to reach more light a long way off— their leaves like cork-screws, devoured 

 and distorted by the green fly. The buyer gets a set of these plants— pays a pretty good 

 price for them — gets them home in the fall of the year, and they remain, most probably 

 in the same pots, till they flower, producing a stem like a screw, with two or three stunt- 

 ed flowers to crown its miserable appearance; and should the cause be inquired into, the 

 reply is, " the climate don't suit them;" a few hot days in this stunted condition, expos- 

 ed, perhaps, to the direct burning rays of their life destroyer, Sol, and lo! they are gone 

 as the gourd of sacred history. 



This is the way that more than half the Calceolarias are grown — destroying the repu- 

 tation of the parties who sell, by ijot answering the high description given, and the total- 

 ly disappointing the purchaser. As for myself, I am not aware of a class of plants more 

 easily grown with a little care, under the following provisions. Remember, in the first 

 place, that Calceolarias require no more heat than a cabbage, and that the green fly, or 

 aphis, is their deadliest enemy. If allowed to remain a day, they suck out the juices of 

 the leaves, and the consequence is, the foliage contracts, curls, and twists up, and when 

 that takes place, all the fumigation and care you could afterwards bestow, would be use- 

 less I invariably consider a plant half dead, when I see its foliage curled by aphis. 

 Guard against this insect, and you have achieved the great imagined difficulty in the cul- 

 ture of the Calceolaria. The remainder is simple and eas}^ and as follows: 



I commence with seedlings, and if proper attention is paid to crossing, there is always 

 .something interesting and amusing in their development. In fertilizing flowers for seed, 

 select those of the half shrubby varieties — they will stand the hot summer better; use no 

 flowers but such as are good in form; never cross a blotch with a spotted variety, or a 

 striped with a spotted one, if you wish to improve your sorts, as the progeny will gene- 

 rally be nothing more than a jumbled up mixture. 



Keep spots, blotches, stripes, and self-colored varieties, crossed respectively in their 

 own class, and after a little practice in this art, you can form a pretty correct idea at the 

 time j'ou are fertilizing, of the ultimate results of your labor. 



In raising seedling Calceolarias, you should sow your seed early in August, in broad 

 pans or boxes of sandy earth, covering it but verj"- slightly, and remember never to allow 

 the surfoce of the soil to become dry. Cover it over thinly with moss, or some such ma- 

 terial, as will prevent quick evaporation. There is generally a great difflcultj complained 

 of in getting the seed up. It is generally sown and watered — and watered again when 

 dry — and so on, and probably never comes up at all. The simple fact is, the seed when 

 first damp begins to germinate, and if it is then allowed to become dry, it is, of course, 

 killed in the germ. Keeping it constantly damp will obviate this. 



As soon as the young plants make their appearance, they require transplanting into pans 

 or boxes of richer soil, and placing in cold frames close to the glass. When they are suf- 

 ficiently advanced in growth, pot off into three inch pots — keep them cool and near the 

 glass. Repot the young plants always (by turning out the ball,) as soon as you perceive 

 the roots touching the side of the pot; do this irrespective of any prescribed month, until 

 3'ou have them in the sized pot you wish them to flower in. I generally flower them in 

 nine inch pots. If you use rich, open loam, with plenty of well decomposed cow manure, 

 the plants good drainage and plenty of water, j'ou will be able to see the true 

 of your seedlings. Act as above laid down, and the leaves of your seedlin 



