76 CALCEOLARIA. 



requisite over the glass. At that time, the stems being withered, I 

 re-pot those desired for extra-sized plants the following year, by 

 reducing the balls of earth and potting them into pots about half the 

 size they had been growing in. After potting, they should be placed 

 in a cool frame, and shaded from hot sun for a month. Then expose 

 them to the open air, placing them in the shade from mid-day sun 

 till about the middle of October, when they should be removed into 

 the greenhouse as before. In March and April following they should 

 again be re-potted, and treated as above named during the former 

 year. It is the best practice to take off a quantity of offsets each 

 autumn, so as to have a stock of large two-year-old plants to bloom 

 every season. 



By this mode of treatment plants may be produced from two to 

 four feet high, stocked with blooming shoots in every part, so as to 

 form a head of flowers a yard in diameter. 



Where there are a considerable number of plants, it is advisable 

 to turn out some into the open border, choosing a situation where 

 they can have shade from eleven till four o'' clock in the afternoon, 

 the intense heat of mid-day sun being injurious to the flowers of 

 Calceolarias. 



To raise seedlings. As soon as the seed is ripe, which from 

 earliest blooms will be the case by the middle or end of July, sow it 

 in pots placed in a shady part of a hot-bed frame or forcing house. 

 The plants soon come up. Take care to keep the soil moist but not 

 wet, as the tender roots are soon rotted off. When sufficiently strong 

 to pot off, which they usually are by the middle of September, pot 

 them into sixty-sized pots, well drained, in a compost of equal parts 

 of well rotted vegetable mould and loam. After potting, place them 

 in a cool frame, kept close and shaded from mid-day sun for a week 

 or two, gradually exposing them to the air. When strong enough to 

 bear a removal without injury, have them taken to a greenhouse and 

 placed in a shady situation. By the end of autumn the plants are 

 quite strong, and will withstand a winter's treatment without injury ; 

 and by thus getting them forward, they bloom during the following 

 season. This mode of immediate sowing of the seed after gathering 

 will not do for late collected seed, as very young plants are liable to 

 damp off during winter. 



