188 



dreenhouse and Stove Plants. 



mens than if grown singly. When they 

 are about a foot or so high, Avire trellises 

 should be fixed to the pots, and the shoots 

 kept regularly trained round them. When 

 the soil gets filled with roots they will re- 

 quire to be supplied liberally with water, 

 and liquid manure, given once or twice a 

 week, will assist them considerably. In 

 other respects treat as recommended for 

 the previous sea-son, and when they begin 

 to open their flowers they should be re- 

 moved to a cool house, where they will 

 last much longer in bloom than if kept in 

 heat. 



When the flowering is over, gradually dry 

 them off as before, and if the size of the 

 pots makes it objectionable to winter the 

 bulbs in them, they may, when the tops 

 are dead, be taken out and wintered in 

 smaller ones filled with thoroughly dry 

 earth, with which they must be covered to 

 prevent too much shrivelling. If, when 

 the bulbs get large, it is found desirable to 

 increase them by division in the manner 

 stated, it is essential that they should not 

 receive any water till growth has com- 

 menced and the cut part has had time to 

 heal, or they will be liable to rot, for the 

 prevention of which mishap surround 

 them with an inch of dry sand at the time 

 of potting. 



Two species only of Gloriosa are worth 

 growing. 



G. Plantii (syn. : G. virescens). Lower 

 petals light yellow ; upper poi'tion of the 

 flower bright red, tinged with orange. 

 From Mozambique. 



G. superba. Has rich orange flowers 

 tinged with red, leflexed and crisped on 

 the margins. A native of the East Indies. 



Insects. — Gloriosas suff'er but little from 

 the depredations of insects, their juices not 

 being relished by them. 



GLOXINIA. 



The members of the present race of these 

 lovely stove Gesnerads owe their paren- 

 tage to a few species imported fiom diffe- 

 I'ent parts of South America. The hybrids 

 recently raised are, however, superior to 

 the imported species both in size and form, 

 and their colours are almost unlimited, 

 varying, as they do, from the purest white 

 through the different shades of pink to 

 deep red, and from pale blue to intense 

 purple, with endless forms of spotting and 

 banding with light and dark colours ; in 

 fact, there are few flowers in which there 

 is so much vai'iety, and they also possess 

 other points equally noteworthy. Gloxinias 

 may be increased rapidly either by means 

 of seeds or cuttings ; they are likewise 



easily grown and most useful for decorating 

 not only the stove, but also the intermediate 

 house in summer, in which they continue 

 to bloom more or less for a considerable 

 period. Their flowers, too, are very useful 

 when cut, lasting in good condition in 

 water for several days, provided the plants 

 have made their growth and produced their 

 flowers in a thoroughly light situation, 

 with the amount of air requisite to impart 

 sufficient substance to them — the latter an 

 indispensable condition when they are re- 

 quired to be used in a cut state. Indeed, 

 the flowers of few plants depend so much 

 as regards durability upon the way in 

 which the plants have been previously 

 managed as those of the Gloxinia, the 

 whole character of which is much changed 

 for better or worse according to the condi- 

 tions of cultivation. When well grown 

 the leaves are firm and short, borne on 

 stout foot-stalks, and the flowers stand 

 well above the foliage ; whereas, if grown 

 either t«o moist or too hot, with insufficient 

 light, the whole plant has a soft, flabby, 

 straggling appearance that eff"ectually de- 

 stroys its beauty. By having a sufficient 

 number of plants and bringing them on at 

 different times, a succession of flowers may 

 be kept up from March until the end of 

 September or later. 



In raising Gloxinias the seed should be 

 sown early in spring — say about the middle 

 of February, so as to allow the plants an 

 opportunity of attaining sufficient size to 

 flower during the summer in a way that 

 will exhibit their true chaiacter. Sow in 

 an ordinary seed pan ; put an inch of 

 drainage on the bottom, and on that place 

 a little sphagnum. The soil ought to con- 

 sist of equal parts of loam, peat, and leaf- 

 mould, all sifted ; add to it one-sixth its 

 bulk of sand, as it is essential that it should 

 be loose and open, or in transplanting the 

 roots of the young seedlings will be injured; 

 fill the pan with soil to within half an inch 

 of the rim, press it do-\vii moderately firm, 

 then water w^th a fine rose, so as to settle 

 the surface, and on this sow the seeds, not 

 too closely, or the young plants become 

 crowded and consequently drawn up before 

 they are large enough to pot ofl". Cover 

 the seeds very lightly, and place them in 

 a temperature of 60°. As soon as the young 

 plants appear stand them close to the light, 

 screen them from the mid-day sun, supply 

 them with water, and give a little air 

 during the day. When the leaves are an 

 inch long move the plants singly into 3-inch 

 pots, using soil similar to that in which the 

 seeds were sown, and at once replace them 

 near the light, raising the temperature as the 

 days increase in length. By the end of June 



