October 13, 1863. 



JOURNAL OF HOSTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



291 



18-sized pots and gently bedewed with tepid water in the 

 morning, care being taken to have the leaves dry before the 

 sun goes down, for water left standing on the foliage i3 apt 

 to cause that part of the leaf where it rests to darap or 

 decay. Water must be given more liberally as the days 

 lengthen, but it is well to let the plants need it before 

 affording a supply. A little now and then does no good, but 

 an occasional thorough application, enough to run through 

 the pot and so wet the soil quite through, is worth all the 

 Kiu-faoe-watei'ings put together. No watering is necessary 

 before the soil becomes dry, but not so much so as to make 

 the leaves flag. Water should be given before that takes 

 place. 



By the latter part of February or beginning of March the 

 pots wiU be full of roots, when the plants must be shifted 

 into pots a size larger or into 13's, using the soil a little 

 rougher, chopping instead of sifting it. The plants will 

 now requii'e syi'inging morning and evening ; in about three 

 weeks from this time the pots will be again full of roots, 

 when the cultivator should consider whether he would like the 

 plants to bloom in the pots they are already in, or if he would 

 like them a little larger and finer. The strongest wiU be 

 chosen and jiotted into G-sized pots, giving extra drainage, 

 and using the soil rough. The pots will soon be fuU of roots, 

 and when these begin matting round the sides of the pot 

 the flower-stems appear. At this stage keep a good circula- 

 tion of air and the atmosphere of the house moderately 

 cool, without shading, and so induce the flower-stems to rise 

 strong and dwarf, and if so, no sticks wiU be needed to 

 support the massive heads. I never attend an exhibition 

 without being puzzled to know whether it is the number of 

 sticks and ties that win theh owner the prize, or the dis- 

 torted blooms on their lanky stems. The plants are to be 

 lightly syringed morning and evening until the flowers 

 biurst the calyx, when moisture must be given by sprinkling 

 the paths and shelves occasionally. 



When the blooms have attained half their full size, they 

 should be shaded from very bright sun, and when fuHj' 

 developed, then- beauty is much prolonged by being shaded 

 fi'om ten to four o'clock. It is not necessary to repot so 

 often, to give more than one shift in the spring, nor to attend 

 to one-half the minutiae here laid down, but I have given the 

 essential particulai-s of their cultivation, the nearer to which 

 the growli- adheres the more likely is success to attend his 

 efforts. The drainage in all cases of repotting should be 

 perfect, and this is secured by placing a large crock on the 

 hole in the pot, an inch of rough crocks, half an inch of 

 finer, and a layer of live sphagnum, or cocoa-nut fibre half 

 an inch thick upon that. It is not a bad practice to pot 

 rather low, especially if few shifts are given, for then the 

 pots can be top-dressed, for the Calceolaria emits roots from 

 the stem, and these are preserved and extended by the top- 

 dressing, which promotes healthfulness and vigour. Plants 

 that are not shifted repeatedly until the flower-stems 

 appear, will be much benefited by the application of weak 

 liquid manure twice a-week. 



Plants done blooming are to be plunged in coal ashes in a 

 shady place, but exposed to the air. AH the flower -stems 

 having been removed, fill in the openings between the 

 plants with leaf mould, putting it close to the stems. 

 Into this the young shoots will root, and when they are 

 sufficiently advanced slip them off the parent, and insert 

 them in -iS-sized pots in the compost recommended for 

 seedlings. Place in a cold frame, and keep shaded until 

 well rooted, when they may be treated as seedlings of the 

 same season, or like July seedhngs. The established or old 

 plants are to be potted in the last week in August in pots 

 sufficiently large to contain them, without cramping them, 

 after the removal of all the old soil that comes freely away 

 without injuring the roots ; then place in a cold frame that 

 they may recover the disrooting, when they require the same 

 shifting and treatment as seedling plants. 



The seedlings sown in the autumn must be potted when 

 large enough, and they may be wintered in 48-sized pots on 

 shelves near the glass in the greenhouse. They will require 

 potting in March, and shifting into their blooming-pots in 

 the end of April or beginning of May. 



Spring-sown plants are raised in heat, care being taken 

 to keep the atmosphere moist and healthy, yet free ft-om 

 draughts. When of sufficient size they are potted-off, and 



gradually hardened-off, as with half-hardy annuals, by the 

 middle of May. The seed, to do this, should be sown in the 

 first week in March : the plants are then placed in a cool 

 frame, and shaded fr'om scorcliing sun, which is apt to cause 

 the flower-stems to come wlulst the plants are small. Shade 

 and moisture, with repotting as often as the pots become 

 filled with roots, will keep the plants growing vigorously 

 until the last week in July, when they must be potted into 

 their blooming-pots, giving them the fall benefit of the sun's 

 rays, and sprinkling them lightly morning and evening with 

 water untU the flowers appear, when they may be removed 

 to a drier atmosphere to bloom. Such plants, however, are 

 seldom half so fine as those kept over the winter ; but if 

 not allowed to produce many flowers in autumn, and kept 

 over the winter, and fr-equently repotted, they make very 

 fine early -flowering plants, and afford in the April and May 

 following a display which no occupant of the gi-eenhouse, 

 not excepting the Azalea and Cineraria, can rival. 



Green fly is very troublesome in attacking the Calceolaria, 

 and is mostly brought on by keeping the plants in a close 

 confined atmosphere, and by imperfect drainage. A sour 

 soil also induces the attacks of this pest and of mildew ; 

 whilst a too dry atmosphere is instrumental in bringing on 

 thrips. The plants should be smoked with tobacco on the 

 first appearance of green fly and thrips, but the leaves should 

 be dry ; and it is better to smoke slightly two nights con- 

 secutively than give a strong dose on one night that not only 

 kUls these pests but injures the leaves as weU. MUdew may 

 be removed by dusting the infested parts with flowers of 

 sulphur; and damp may be prevented by removing the 

 causes — stagnant atmospheric moisture, and water lodging 

 on the stems and leaves. 



Shrubby Calceolarias must form the subject of another 

 communication. — George Abbey. 



BILLBEEGIAS AND THEIR CULTIVATION— 

 ^CHMEAS. 



It but too often happens that this valuable genus, though 

 represented in almost every stove we visit, receives but 

 secondary consideration and treatment. This is undeserved 

 considering its known merits, its singular foliage, and the 

 brightness and uses of its flowers. Such treatment may 

 often arise from the simple supposition that the plants gx-ow 

 and seem to flourish well under the roughest system of 

 treatment. That these ideas are wrong I scarcely need 

 state, or that such treatment does very poor justice to this 

 or, indeed, any other class of plants, for by cultivation they 

 may be induced to form much finer foliage and to flower 

 much more fr-eely than they usually do. 



The general system of treatment I would follow would be 

 to pot them each year, in May, in a compost of peat, sand, 

 and charcoal, adding a few well-broken potsherds ; to afford 

 them but a slight shift each time, taking care to pot them 

 firmly ; and to give them up to September a general stove 

 temperature and treatment. It is also necessary to bear in 

 mind that where good drainage is afforded they are fond of 

 an abundant supply of water dui-ing their growing season. 

 At the first oppox-tunity after September they shoidd be 

 placed in a higher temperature and receive the general ti-eat- 

 ment of a Pine plant when the object is to induce it to 

 fruit. I have omitted to state that all grovrths remaioing 

 upon the plants which may have previously flowered, or may 

 be older than those of the last year, should be carefully , 

 removed with a keen-edged knife, for by permitting these 

 to remain upon the plants they appropriate to themselves a 

 part of the sap, aU of which should go towards the perfecting 

 of a large strong growth, with a view to efficient flowering. 

 In some of the varieties the flower-spikes push out rather 

 too far to sustain their weight, and in such case they may be 

 properly secured by being tied. Others which are not so 

 long and are stronger in the stem will requure no support. 



The sorts generally known are BUlbergia Leopoldi, amoena, 

 fasciata, and Duo de Croy. I have known some very lively- 

 flowered sorts under the names of MoreUiana and Liboniana, 

 though, in consequence of greater notice not having been 

 taken of them, the collection is not so complete in some 

 popular catalogues as it might otherwise be. 



Noumea is another very pleasing genus, and very closely 



