42 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
ANTHURIUM. 
the plants are small, sift the soil, but pull 
it to pieces with the hand ; press mode- 
rately firm, and pot the crowns an inch or 
so down, just covering the roots a little ; 
put a small stick to each for support, give 
water, and place them in a brisk heat of 
65° in the night, with an increase during 
the day. Keep them a little close until 
they begin to grow, but not so much con- 
fined as would be requisite in the case of 
ordinary cuttings. Raise the temperature 
both day and night as the season advances, 
giving air in the daytime when the 
weather is such as to require it, and shad- 
ing slightly when the sun is upon them. 
When a fair amount of roots have been 
formed, the plants should be moved into 
pots two inches larger, using similar soil 
to that in which they were before placed. 
Continue to treat through the summer as 
already advised, syringing them freely 
every afternoon, and also giving plenty of 
water to the roots. Reduce the tempera- 
ture, and discontinue shading as the 
weather gets cooler, keeping them through 
the winter in a temperature of 55° in the 
night; but do not let the soil get dry. 
Repot in April, giving two or three inches 
of a shift, still half-filling the pots with 
drainage, and using the soil in a more 
lumpy state as the plants get larger; this 
season they will push up flowers from all 
the strongest leaves, but it will not be 
advisable, even whilst in bloom, to move 
them out of the stove, as a lower and drier 
atmosphere would interfere with their 
growth. Continue the summer and winter 
treatment in this and subsequent years as 
already recommended, giving more pot 
room when it is wanted. They will goon 
for years increasing in size as long as re- 
quired, and, when they get larger than 
desirable, they may be reduced by division 
of the crowns. These Anthuriums can be 
increased from pieces of their rhizome-like 
stems cut in bits an inch or two in length, 
inserted in soil such as that advised for 
potting the crowns in, and treated simi- 
larly afterwards. They can also be grown 
from seeds managed as hereafter detailed 
for the propagation of A. Scherzerianum 
and its white variety by this method. 
A. Scherzerianum is now well known, 
and is undoubtedly one of the very finest 
and most distinct flowering plants ever in- 
troduced to this country. By judicious 
treatment in recent years it has been 
grown to a size, of both leaf and flower, 
such as was never anticipated from the 
small examples produced when first bloomed 
after its introduction. It is from Costa 
Rica, and can be readily increased from 
seeds. For a considerable time after it 
was brought to the country few persons 
succeeded in seeding it, simply because 
they did not allow time for the seeds to 
get matured ; they are borne on the out- 
side of the spadix, in compressed globular, 
pulpy masses, about the size, and when 
ripe of the colour, of pale red currants. 
To produce good seed, flowers should be 
selected that open towards the close of 
summer ; about August, when the spathes. 
decay, they may be cut off, leaving the 
twisted spadix growing upon the peduncles. 
These will remain through the winter in 
much the same condition as they appear in 
the autumn, quite brown, with little ap- 
parent vitality in them, but in the spring 
the spadix will entirely, or partially, un- 
twist, and the seed vessels will begin to 
swell, being at first of a green colour, after- 
wards becoming orange-red as they ripen. 
When fit to gather they are almost trans- 
parent, and will part readily from the 
spadix. They should then be removed, 
washed out of the pulp in the way usual 
with melon or cucumber seeds, and at once 
sown. Procure large-sized seed pans, im 
which place an inch of drainage ; then get 
some clean sphagnum moss, free from grass. 
or weeds. Chop this quite fine with a pair 
of scissors or hedge shears, and add to it 
one-fifth of clean sand and some crocks or 
charcoal, broken about the size of small 
peas. Fill up the pans with this mixture, 
pressing it firmly down, and water the 
surface, sprinkling a little more sand if 
that which has been already mixed with 
the moss is washed down ; damp the sur- 
face again, and sow the seeds thickly and 
evenly over it, pressing them gently down 
with the hand, but not covering them in 
the least. Put a propagating glass over 
the whole to keep in the moisture, as this. 
will prevent the necessity for giving much 
water; if this is given in considerable: 
quantities, it has a tendency to wash the: 
seeds overhead into the material, which 
must not occur, as they vegetate much the 
best when on the surface. Keep the whole 
quite moist ; it must never be allowed to 
become dry, but, when water is given, let 
it be applied with a fine rose, so as not to 
disturb the seeds at all. Place in a night 
temperature of 65°, and 10° more in the 
day ; in a few weeks they will begin to 
grow. 
Let the young plants, from the time they 
first vegetate, have plenty of light, but do. 
not allow the sun, when at all powerful, to 
come upon them without shading: give air 
in the middle of the day, and syringe over- 
head in the afternoons. 
By the beginning of September they 
will be large enough to prick out, several 
