Heptembor 12. 1867. 1 



JODBN.\L OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



m 



CTTlTTTllK OF TTTK YELLOW C.VLCEOL.VPTA 



1! many yeava I have bed- 

 ded out Am'ca (lorilninda on 

 both lieav}' and liftht soil, 

 and I cannot remember hav- 

 ing lost ten plants in as 

 many years : and now, as 

 some correspondents mention that the plant is likely to be 

 no longer depended upon for llowergtirden decoration, 

 I Nvill state the treatment that I have pursued for many 

 yoars, and altliough there is nothing new in it, yet my 

 Calceolaria- beds are about the best in bloom that I have 

 this year. 



In the first place, I never think of putting in my Calceo- 

 laria cutting.^ until the last week in September or the first 

 week in October. Here, I think, many people commit an 

 error. I have seen them put in to strike in the month of 

 August, and in heat, where they are sure to die otf. I have 

 also known them inserted in a cold frame to strike and 

 to winter in, wliicli I think is an error ; for in fi'osty wea- 

 ther in a cold IVamo they are covered up so long from the 

 light that tbey often become drawn and sickl}'. 



I remember once calling on a gardener in the month of 

 .January, and be asked me to look at his Calceolarias. We 

 went to the kitchen garden, and lie took a fork to turn over 

 a manure-heap, as I thought ; but after a good bit of \igor- 

 ous labour he came at a two-light frame, which took some 

 pulling and trying before he conlil lift the lights up a little 

 so that I could take a look in, and here, sure enough, he 

 had the frame full of yellow Calceolarias, planted in the 

 natural soil about from '2 to :! inches apart. I made no 

 remark about their looks, but 1 went away with the im- 

 pression that tliesc Calceolarias had the yellow jaundice. 

 At planting out time some of my neighbours hacl a few of 

 these very plants, and most of them died otV before the 

 summer was over, and these arc the only ones that I have 

 seen die oil'. 



About the last week in September I have the plants put 

 into six and seven-inch pots, and placed in a cold frame, 

 where they are kept close by day, and the lights pulled otf at 

 night, if calm weather, so that the night dews refresh them : 

 but if the weather is so that the lights have to remain on 

 during the night, then I give them a sprinlding overhead 

 in tlie morning with cold water through a fine-rosed water- 

 pot. I have struck Calceolaria cuttings as late as Novem- 

 ber ; but at whatever time they are put in, I am cai'eful to 

 strike the whole stock for ne.\t year's supply. No spring- 

 struck Calceolarias for me. 



When well rooted I store them away either in a cold 

 greenhouse, or a cold pit near the light, where frost is just 

 kept out throughout the winter, and here I give them 

 plenty of \v iter In fact, I never allow the plants to be- 

 No. S37.-VOI. xin., Naw Smns, 



come diy or flag from the day they are put in a" cuttings 

 to the day that they are planted out. and not then. 



About the beginning of February I pot them off in 

 ■tH-sized pots, using loam and sand, but no other addition. 

 Leaf mould I dislike above all other soils. 



After potting I keep them close for about twelve or four- 

 teen days until the roots take hold of the soil, when the 

 plants are gi-adually used to more air, and kept cold and 

 moist until planting-out time. 



The Calceolaria will grow very fast through April and 

 May, and here I think some people commit an error by 

 not stoppmg them suiliciently. I like to stop them as soon 

 as I can get at the points of the shoots with my finger and 

 thumb, and keep them stopped at every second joint. There 

 is a great ditVerence between stopping a plant and cutting 

 it back. 



By planting-out time I have fine, dwarf, bushy, vigornas 

 plants, such as the west winds will not take much cflcct 

 upon after tliey are put out in the beds. In planting I 

 am particular to take out the crocks, and press tlie ball of 

 the plant sulhciently between my hau<ls so as to loosen the 

 roots a little. When planted I give a good watering, and 

 there is no more trouble with the plants. 



There is one more recommendation I wish to make — be 

 sure to keep down the green fly ; but if the plants arc 

 jn-operly managed there will be no green Hy on them. 

 I always conclude when I see them smothere 1 with green 

 fly that the plants had been kept too diy at the roofs o;- 

 in the atmosphere. — Robin Rove. 



ROSES. 



I AM not a '■ rosarian " — very few of us are, I calculate, 

 in the way our friend Mr. Uadclyfl'e is — but I am an en- 

 thusiastic lover of England's flower, and as one of my 

 family remarked to a friend the other day, when asked if I 

 grew such a flower. " No ! he only goes in for Roses .' ' 



Now, although this is not strictly truth, as I fancy I can 

 grow an Aster or two, yet I must allow that in my small w.iy 

 I do " go in " for Roses. Naturally, then. I read all tlwt 

 " cm' .Tournal " says on the subject, and peHiaris might 

 have written ere this on the topic, but that I thought it 

 somewhat presumptuous in so juvenile a Rose-grower (not 

 rosarian, remark) ; thus the thoughts have occiisioually 

 been penned, and then found their way to my wasten.iper 

 basket, instead of " our Ivlitors' ; " possibly thii may re- 

 verse that decision, and find its way to theirs instead of 

 mine ! Bo it so. Who can question the edict that is 

 passed by those enthroned at ITL Fleet Street':' 



Most Rose-growers will agree with the remarks of "D . 

 Dml." To him in the matter of Roses we arc deeply 

 indebted, and all ho has said about Mai-echal Niel, and 

 much said by others leads me more and more to the idea 

 that it is impossible for persons diflerently situated pro- 

 perly to estimate the value of a given Rose. Marechal 

 Niel must be a useful Rose, if only once in a way it gives 

 a bloom such as I saw exhibited at Warminster Rose 

 Show. That bloom, Mr. Keynes said, was worth a sove- 

 reign ; and to a Rose lover it was worlli somelliinj merely 

 1(0.969.— Vol. XXSTIII^Olo Samia. 



