GREENHOUSE AND STOVE BULBS 105 



After flowering, water should be gradually withheld ; 

 and when the foliage becomes yellow, the pots with 

 their contents should be thoroughly roasted in the sun. 

 Before repotting, it is desirable to sort them according 

 to size. Some grow Freesias from seed, but they are 

 so cheap, and make offsets so freely, that it is hardly 

 worth the trouble to do so. The seeds are sown when 

 ripe, and gradually grown on until they attain to 

 flowering size. The best of the Freesias is F. refracta 

 alba, but F. refracta, white and yellow, and F. refracta 

 Leichtlini, with creamy-yellow flowers, are also grown. 



GLOXINIAS 



Gloxinias are so beautiful in their colourings, and 

 are so ornamental, that it is no matter for surprise to 

 find them in most gardens of importance. Nowadays, 

 however, they are principally grown from seed instead 

 of cultivating the old bulbs for successive seasons as 

 was formerly practised. They are easily raised in this 

 way, and the plants produced are more vigorous and 

 floriferous than those produced by old bulbs, or by 

 cuttings or leaves. They can be flowered in about six 

 months from the time of sowing. 



Fibrous loam or leaf-soil, mixed with sand and peat, 

 will answer for the seed pans and for the after compost. 

 Seed sown in January or February will give a succes- 

 sion of flower, and later sowings may be made for 

 winter bloom. The seed should be thinly sown and 

 covered with a sprinkling of fine soil. The pans ought 

 then to be placed in a temperature of about jo degrees, 

 and shaded from strong sun. The young seedlings are 

 very liable to damp off, and must be pricked out into 

 other pans or pots as soon as possible. They will grow 

 quickly in a moist warm house, and, when a fair size, 

 may be repotted, giving a forty-eight size pot for the 



