52 ON THE CINERARIA. 



ARTICLE III. 



ON THE CINERARIA, 



BY A SUBSCRIBER. IN DEVONSHIRE. 



Not having seen in the two last volumes of your very interesting- 

 work, the Fi.oricoltural Cabinet, (which I have had the pleasure 

 of being a subscriber for the past two years,) any precise culture of 

 the Cineraria, which I am particularly fond of, and as you solicit 

 communications from floral correspondents, I send yon, if you think 

 it worth insertion, the method I have successfully adopted ; — and first, 

 from seed. 



I sow the seed, if it ripens pretty early as soon as it is ripe, in a 

 thirty-sized pot, and plunge the pot in a little heat ; the seeds will 

 soon be up. I am not particular about the mould I sow in, provided 

 it be fine and light. I sow the seed on the surface, and then stir the 

 mould a little with a sharp pointed stick and smooth it over. As 

 soon as the plants get two pairs of leaves I put them in a sixty-sized 

 pot singly, using loam one-fourth, leaf-mould one-fourth, peat one- 

 fourth, and sand one-fourth, mixing it well together, but it should be 

 sifted fine before mixing. For the first potting I add a little charcoal 

 broken about the size of peas. I then put them in a gentle heat 

 again, plunging the pots in rotted tan, and water as required. As 

 soon as they fill the pots with roots I re-pot them in forty-eights, 

 using the same kind of soil, and re-plunge them in heat as before. 

 As soon as they fill the pots again I re-pot them, using chopped 

 compost instead of sifted, and put them in the greenhouse, where I 

 have a heat of between fifty and sixty degrees, and re-pot as required. 

 I would most strongly recommend the use of Hunt's patent pots for 

 Cinerarias, for being fond of water you can give it more freely, for 

 the roots, if it reaches the bottom of the pots, do not get soaked with 

 water, the drainage preventing an overplus. I water with Guano 

 water twice a week, and I have now very fine strong plants, short, 

 thick of leaves, and they very vigorous, measuring seven and eight 

 inches across, and the same in length, looking remarkably healthy, 

 and now coming into profuse flower, and which I will forward to the 

 Conductor (the flowers) for inspection if I think them worth it. 



Treatment of One Year or more Old Plants. 

 As soon as the plants have done blooming I cut them down close to 



