HLNTS ON GROWING CALCEOLARIAS. 



measure something like twelve inches long, with a corresponding amount of flower. When 

 the bloom is over, those you esteem worthy of propagation may be readily increased in 

 the following manner. Take some old frames, select a north aspect, and place the back 

 of your frame to the north; put in drainage, and fill up the frame with good, rich, open 

 compost. Then plant out your Calceolarias, giving them a good watering; shade and keep 

 them close for a day or so, to induce them to root. In this situation, if attended to, they 

 will produce a multiplicity of cuttings. To be successful in striking, requires a little care- 

 fulness. Four inch pots, well drained and filled with sand, are the best for this purpose. 

 The cuttings should be taken off four or five joints long, placed around the sides of the 

 pot, and well watered. 



Take a little box, a yard square and nine inches deep, glazed air tight, placed over an 

 excavated piece of ground of the same dimensions; place the cutting pots on the ground, 

 cover up with your box, and tread the soil tight round the sides. In this simple manner 

 I have struck eight thousand between August and November. The cuttings are never al- 

 lowed to flag for want of water, or j'ou maj' as well throw them away at once. In three 

 Aveeks they will be ready to pot ofi". I seldom take the box off" before the expiration of 

 that time, unless they appear to be very dry. When struck, pot off" singly in three inch 

 pots. 



The next process is the sytem by which to produce a specimen plant. If you do not 

 require your best selected seedlings for propagation, after they are out of flower, and pre- 

 fer growing them as specimens for the ensuing year, my process is as follows : When out 

 of flower — cut down, select a north aspect, and plunge up to the rims of the pots; early 

 in September, partially disroot, re- pot, and place them in a close frame; keep them there 

 until you perceive indications of growth; then give air, syringe frequently with water 

 slightly colored with soap; continue potting and re-potting, as directed for the seedlings, 

 and at every potting laj' the growing branches regularly all round the pot, and fasten them 

 in their positions with hook pegs. The last potting should be early in February. I then 

 generally use a pot from fifteen to eighteen inches diameter, (what some of our friends 

 about Albany call hogsheads,) pot with rich, open soil, and neatly and regularly peg the 

 shoots down over the suiface, and as they continue to grow, continue to peg down; they 

 readil}' emit new roots from the shoots as the}' are laid down, and will produce a great 

 number of shoots; and iiU that are not required should be taken off', which will materially 

 strengthen the selected branches for flowering. Towards the end of March they will 

 throw up their flower stems, which will require to be supported, and properly arranged 

 with small sticks, so that the plant will form a globular mass of well arranged flowers. 



Amateurs M'ho feel an interest in the cultivation of the Calceolaria, by following this 

 sim{)le treatment, as laid down, will produce a plant when in flower, that will measure 

 four feet diameter, with something like a hundred, or a hundred and twent}'' flower stems 

 to one plant. But I would here remind amateurs, that he who waters without ascertain- 

 ing if it is required, or lets his plants remain pot bound, or potting them '■'■when he has 

 time,'' or permits them to be devoured with aphis, must never e.\'i>ect to realize such a 

 specimen as above described. A Working Gardener. 



May 4, 185i 



[A good practical article — by one whose beautifully grown plants we have, if we mistake 

 not, seen more than once. Very few of our floral leaders in this country know the cuii- 

 ous beauty of the new hybrid Calceolarias, and those who will follow the directions given 

 correspondent, will find themselves amply rewarded. Ed.] 



