April 2, 1868. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTIOULTUBB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



253 



C.y:.ADIUM CULTURE. 



F the many stove plants now cultivated for 

 the beaut}' or gracefulness of their foliage, 

 few excel the diil'erent species and varieties 

 of Caladium, and tlio majority of these being 

 of tolerably easy cultivation, they are very 

 generally grown. Although directions for 

 their successful cultivation have appeared 

 from time to time in the pages of The Jour- 

 nal OF HoitTicL'i.TunE, Still, a few remarks 

 suggestive of the mode of treatment required, 

 may at the present time be acceptable to some of your 

 readers. 



Supposing that tho plants have awakened from their 

 winter's slumber refreshed and invigorated, the rhizomes 

 or rootstocks plump and fresh, and just beginning to emit 

 roots, then is the time to have thorn turned out of the pots 

 in wliich they have been mutered, and either divided into 

 small pieces with two or three crowns to each, or retained 

 whole according to tho wishes or requii-ements of the 

 cultivator. 



Pots from 3 to .5 inches in diameter, according to the 

 variety or the size of the rhizome to be introduced, are large 

 enough to use for tho first potting. Crock such well, as 

 good drainage is indispensable from the first. A compost 

 of two parts loam, one of peat, one of leaf mould, one of 

 decayed sheep or cow dung, with a liberal addition of silver 

 Band, well incorporated and passed through an inch sieve, 

 is a good soil to start Caladiums in. 



In potting, place the rhizome low enough, so that it can 

 be covered with half an inch of soil. Press the soil but 

 very little ; a smart tap on the bench will almost be 

 enough. 



After potting, place the pots in a gentle bottom heat, 

 where an atmospheric temperatui-e suitable for the ma- 

 jority of stove plants can be maintained. Give enough 

 water to moisten all the soil, but not to saturate it. In 

 a few days the roots will have reached the sides and 

 bottoms of the pots, wliile the upper portion of the plants 

 will only have appeared above the soil. 



When one or two leaves appear on the plants it is a good 

 time to sliii't these into larger pots, using soil of a similar 

 nature to that previously employed, but in a rougher 

 state. After this potting bottom heat can be well dispensed 

 with, and the plants placed in the stove. Shading from 

 bright sun is highly necessary. 



As the plants grow, some of them can be repeatedly 

 shifted into larger pots, with the view of forming large 

 specimens, or several may be placed round a large pot at 

 the second potting for the same end ; but if such be in- 

 tended for exliibition, the chance is that the pot may be 

 excluded on the ground of its containing a plurality of 

 plants. I consider pots 12 inches in diameter large enough 

 for growing good-sized specimens ; in such I have grown 

 plants of Caladium Chantini, Wightii, and others 4 feet in 

 diameter. I much prefer tlie plants, however, in pots 

 from 6 to 9 inches across. 



Few plants delight more in an abundant supply of water 

 ftt the roots ; and such must be unsparingly given, other- 



Ko. 86«.-Voi- XIV., New Sebies. 



wise all hopes will bo blighted. I have sometimes foimd 

 it necessary to have a saucer containing water for the pots 

 to stand in. When the pots have become fuU of roots 

 weak manure water may be applied with great benefit 

 twice a- week. An abundant supply of moisture must aiso 

 be maintained in the surrounding atmosphere by wetting 

 the paths, stages, &c., or by means of evaporating troughs 

 or other appUances, A little soot or guano mixed with 

 the water in the trough will help to enrich the atmosphere, 

 and act as a stimulant to Caladiums and most other 

 stove plants. Most practical men are agi-eed that a 

 humid atmosphere moderately impregnated with ammo- 

 niacal gases is one of the best preventives against the 

 appearance and increase of parasitical insects in heated 

 structures. 



If the leaves of Caladiums are to preserve their bright- 

 ness they must not be syringed overhead ; for however care- 

 ful the selection of water may be, applied in this way and 

 habitually, a sort of incrustation will eventually form over 

 the leaf, and render it inaccessible to atmospheric influ ence 

 by entirely choking up the pores. 



The most inveterate insect enemy to Caladiums is the 

 green fly, which can be kept under by cautious, judicious, and 

 frequent applications of tobacco smoke, or by the adminis- 

 tration of an infusion of quassia cliips of the strength of 

 tliree or four ounces to the gaUon of water ; the plants 

 being dipped into the solution, or this being applied with 

 the syringe. 



The principal use to which these plants may be put, 

 otherwise than the decoration of tlie stove or other heated 

 structure, is as table plants. No plants are more prized 

 here at table than some of the varieties when grown in 

 pots .J or inches in diameter. 



Perhaps the greatest difficulty experienced by those who 

 grow Caladiums is in the keeping of the rhizomes in _a 

 fresh state during wmter. Their proneness to decay is 

 now generally acknowledged, and considerable difierence 

 of opinion prevails amongst practical men on this impor- 

 tant point. One maintains that the soil in the pots should 

 be kept moist, another maintains that it ought to be kept 

 dust dry, while a tliird party thinks a lower temperature 

 than that kept up in the stove will prove beneficial, by in- 

 suring a more perfect state of rest, as assuredly it will, and 

 that more lasting than desirable. In my opinion more 

 Caladiums are lost during winter from being imperfectly 

 ripened in autumn tlian from all other causes, excluding, 

 of course, a low temperature. 



The gradual withdrawal of water when the earliest leaves 

 attain a yellowish tint will help greatly to hasten the ripen- 

 ing process ; keep the plants in the warmest part of the 

 house, so as to compensate for declining solar heat, and, 

 finally, when tlie leaves have all withered, place the pots on 

 their sides on the floor of the house. The moisture supplied 

 by the floor and the atmosphere will be enough to satisfy 

 ail demands till the middle of February or beginning of 

 March. 



To recapitulate — tho principal points to be attended to 

 for the successful cultivation of Caladiums are giving rich 

 soil, potting loosely, giving abundance of water occasion- 

 ; No. 1018.— Vol. XXXIX., Old Seeieb. 



