THE GESNERACEOUS HOUSE. 127 
carpus, with its curious construction; the Nigella, a 
kind of Gesnera with very handsome foliage and ex- 
quisite flowers, which are produced in winter, making 
them valuable for cut flowers: these all require a good 
house, and in general a brisk and lively heat—a stove 
heat of 70° to 80° is required to grow them well. The 
house for all these should be double-glazed. 
The Achimenes and Streptocarpus may be grown in 
a common greenhouse through the summer, but must 
first be started into growth in a good heat; but in the 
colder counties it is necessary to grow all of them in 
a temperature of 70° up to 80° with shade. In my 
opinion, a house filled with Gesneras of all classes 
possesses a feature and a charm quite uncommon for 
those who delight in what is really gorgeous and hand- 
some, combined with what may be called exquisite. 
If we refer only to the tribe of the Gloxinia, this is 
fully realised; but add to this the other species and 
their varieties, and then we find that these words fall 
into insignificance as descriptive of what is meant by 
the terms ‘ handsome, beautiful, and exquisite ;’ for no 
words can convey any adequate idea of what they really 
are when well grown and in masses. 
None of these are difficult to grow: the chief thing 
is to preserve the roots well through the winter or the 
time when they are dormant, and to have a good com- 
post of half-dry leaf-mould, peat, maiden loam, and 
silver sand to start them in, when they are to be 
excited, and a brisk heat to continue them in whenever 
that is done, and to maintain a good even temperature 
while they are growing, never allowing the full power 
of the sun to fall upon them. 
The house recommended for the Geraniums may be 
