ON THE CULTURE OF THE LOBELIA CATtDlNALIS. 119 



damp off, as is in general the case with plants grown in pits or 

 frames, as I have elswhere described, they will retain their health 

 only for a short time, for I know of no person growing them 

 in pits but the stock has dropt off by a disease of rotting in the 

 neck of the plants, when this begins there is no end till the whole 

 stock has suffered; in this case examine the plants and you will 

 find them to look of a purplish hue round the neck, they must 

 then be carefully removed or the disease will infect the whole 

 stock; my own frame is built of brick two feet high at the back 

 and one foot at the front, with stakes at the corners three feet 

 long at the back and two feet in the front for the doors, there is 

 then a board one foot in breadth back and front on hinges, which 

 is drawn up in rainy weather for the admission of air ; this is the 

 best plan that I know of for the culture of the Auricula, the 

 number of varieties in cultivation have been given in a former 

 number of the Floricultural Cabinet. 



ARTICLE V. 

 ON THE CULTURE OF THE LOBELIA CARDINALIS. 



BY EMILY ARUSTRONGE. 



I would not have offered these remarks on the above splendid 

 flower after the able and pleasing statement made by An Ardent 

 Amateur in a former number ; but have experienced on trial that 

 they can be grown with less care and trouble than described bv 

 him. In. the month of October I removed the plants from the 

 open border into pots eleven and twelve inches in diameter; 

 the flower pots contained a mixture of yellow clay, light mellow 

 loam and pit sand, previously well mixed and sifted ; having no 

 green-house, they were placed in a room having a south westerly 

 aspect, there being no fire allowed while the plants remained in 

 it. In the first week of the month of March I divided the offsets 

 from the parent plant, not having done so the previous October ; 

 I am convinced that spring is the best season for such separation; 

 all the offsets and parent plants were separately planted into pots 

 of a smaller diameter, containing the same kind of soil. The last 

 week of the month of March I turned each ball containing 

 one plant (taking particular care that no portion of the soil should 

 be separated from it,) into a border well sheltered from the 



