ON THE CULTURE OF GLOXINIAS. 87 



catalogue with a pleasure second almost to none hut the actual grati- 

 fication of seeing my collection in full bloom. 



Felton Bridge End, February 20, 1843. 



P. S. There is a scarlet and gold Ranunculus grown here, but I am 

 not certain that it is Brookes's. The querist had better apply to Messrs. 

 Tyso. I have never seen Brown's Polyphemus catalogued but once, 

 and that was in Brown's catalogue for 1838, when the price was 

 twenty guineas. 



ARTICLE VII. 



ON CULTURE OF GLOXINIAS. 



BY CI.ERICUS. 



There is no class of plants that repays the cultivator better for his 

 trouble than the genus Gloxinia. What can have a more showy or 

 brilliant appearance than a quantity of Gloxinias growing in a bed of 

 roots and moss? If they are raised from seed, all the intermediate 

 colours, from purple and carmine to white, may be obtained. As 

 few persons have opportunities to cultivate them in the above method, 

 I confine myself to their cultivation in pots, for which the following 

 method will be found successful. Sow the seed in pots of light 

 sandy peat in February, fill the pots half full of crocks, over which 

 place a layer of moss and peat, after which sift a little peat and sand 

 with a fine hair-sieve, distributing the seed evenly thereon. It 

 requires no covering with soil ; water and cover with a bell-glass, 

 and plunge in heat. In ten clays or a fortnight the plants will appear. 

 Give air by degrees. When they have formed three or four leaves, 

 transplant into sixty-sized pots ; and if properly supplied with heat 

 and moisture, the plants will flower the same autumn. 



Almost every part of the leaves will form plants, providing a 

 portion of the midrib be retained in the cuttings. Divide the leaves 

 transversely, place them in pots of fine sand, covered with a bell 

 glass, and plunge in a strong heat ; in a short time callosities will 

 form at the base of the cuttings. Repot in good sandy peat, replung- 

 ing and covering with a hand-glass, giving air occasionally. The 

 plants sometimes bloom the first season. If the plants to be propa- 

 gated arc very choice, remove them into a large pot, making incisions 

 on the midrib of the lower leaves, placing a few small pebbles on the 



