100 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
the last-mentioned structure when coming nicely into bloom, and 
they will continue to produce their flowers for a considerable period 
if placed where they will not be exposed to draughts or brilliant 
sunshine. 
To propagate gloxinias is easy enough, both from seed and by 
means of the leaves. Seed saved from a first-class strain, such as 
that represented by Mr. Williams’s hybrids, is not very expensive, 
and an ordinary packet will yield a considerable number of very 
beautiful varieties. The seed is very small, and must be carefully 
sown in pots filled with a mixture of peat, leaf-mould, and sand, the 
whole well mixed, and the surface made perfectly level. Cover the 
seed very lightly, and place the seed pots in a close warm position, 
to encourage the rapid germination of the seeds. As the seedlings 
make their appearance over the surface, remove to a lighter position, 
to promote a sturdy growth, but they must not be fully exposed to 
the sunshine. In due course prick them off into pans, putting them 
about an inch apart, and when they have grown sufficiently to touch 
each other, pot them off separately. With ordinary good manage- 
ment, the seedlings will have, by the end of the season, become large 
enough to produce a splendid display of flowers the following 
summer. 
In propagating a stock by means of the leaves, take fully de- 
veloped leaves, with about half-an-inch of the leaf-stalk, and insert 
round the sides of pots prepared in the usual way for cuttings. 
Bury about half-an-inch of the base of the blade of the leaf in the 
soil, and put the cutting pots in a position similar to that recom- 
mended for those in which the seed is sown. The soil must be 
maintained in a nice moist state, and when the leaves begin to turn 
yellow in the autumn withhold the water altogether. The leaves 
that strike will remain green and plump until the autumn, but the 
others will quickly decay, and must be removed. Leave the small 
corms that will have formed at the base of the leaves, in the cutting 
pot until the following spring, and then shake them out of the 
old soil, pot separately, and place in a frame or house where they will 
receive the assistance of the temperature stated above as being the 
most suitable for them during the earlier stages of growth. 
In the case of the established plants, the water must be gradually 
withheld when the plants go out of bloom, and during the winter 
they should be kept perfectly dry, and be placed where they will be 
quite safe from frost. The corms may be shaken out and kept in 
sand, but it is much better to leave them in the soil. 
Tue Exnrsrtion oF Firower Beps to be held in the gardens of the Royal 
Botanic Society, on Thursday, June 1, breaks quite new ground; and, if well 
carried out, will be exceedingly interesting and instructive to those who have an 
opportunity of visiting it. ‘The beds are to be of an ordinary size, and laid out on 
the lawn, and the plants employed in working out the designs are to be in pots 
plunged in sand. On the same day the Duke of Teck, President of the Society, 
will open the new wing of the great conservatory in the gardens. 
