172 Commercial Gardening 



should be allowed for an occasional topdressing. With ample drainage, 

 water may be freely given, both at the roots and overhead. Insect 

 pests may be kept down by syringing with paraffin emulsion. Liquid 

 manure and soot water combined is one of the best stimulants that can 

 be employed. To obtain flowers in the depth of winter a minimum night 

 temperature of 60 F. will be necessary. Ten degrees less may, however, 

 be safely allowed in the case of plants required to bloom in early spring. 

 In packing the flowers it must be borne in mind that they are very easily 

 bruised, for which reason they are best packed in shallow boxes in a single 

 layer, the box being lined with wadding, slightly damped, and covered 

 with tissue paper. 



When the soil is badly drained, and perhaps also too rich with humus 

 and artificial fertilizers, and the temperature is kept too high, the roots 

 of Gardenias are often afflicted with Eelworm (Heterodora radicicola), and 

 become irregular masses, useless for absorptive purposes. The soil should 

 be well drained and dressed w r ith lime or basic slag. [w. T.] 



Gesnera. A large genus of hairy-leaved plants, many with tuberous 

 roots, and closely related to Gloxinia. The tubular flowers are glowing 

 scarlet or orange in colour, and droop from branched stems. There are 

 now many lovely garden hybrids, one of the best being ncegelioides, with 

 bright rosy-pink flowers having a yellow throat. There are, however, 

 numerous variations of this, including some with flowers of deep-violet, red, 

 lilac, white, pink, and other shades. At present there is no great trade 

 done in these lovely plants. They are easily raised from seeds, and may 

 be treated in the same way as Gloxinias. 



Gloxinia (or Sinningia). Popular stove or greenhouse tuberous plants 

 with hairy fleshy leaves, large tubular flowers with exquisite shades of 

 colour and variously blotched and speckled. They are easily raised from 

 seeds sown on nicely prepared gritty soil between January and March, 

 and again in June and July, in a temperature of 70 to 75 F., and plants 

 may be had in flower in six months' time. Old stock plants may have 

 the tubers divided, or new plants may be raised from incisions made 

 across the midrib and main veins of leaves pegged down on gritty soil 

 or leaf mould. Once established, Gloxinias will grow in a cooler atmos- 

 phere and will last longer in blossom. For wreaths, crosses, bouquets, 

 &c., it is astonishing how long the flowers of cool-grown Gloxinias will 

 last, but they are very rarely used in this way by florists. 



Grevillea robusta. This graceful Fern-like Australian plant is largely 

 grown for market. It is raised from seeds sown in heat in February or 

 March in pots or shallow boxes in sandy soil. The young plants soon 

 appear, and when 2 or 3 in. high are placed singly in small pots, in which 

 they are grown on quickly. They are again moved into 5-in. pots, either 

 singly or in pairs, being potted rather firmly in a compost of gritty loam 

 and leaf mould. They are grown during the summer months in a fairly 

 moist atmosphere, and are shaded from strong sunshine. By autumn the 

 plants are marketable size and sell during the winter months, realizing 



