io6 THE BOOK OF BULBS 



final shift. They can have then a temperature of sixty to 

 sixty-five degrees. A little manure water is beneficial 

 at intervals, but this, and a moist atmosphere, are pre- 

 judicial when the plants are in bloom. 



Cuttings of the young shoots taken off when the old 

 bulbs are started are easily struck in a propagating frame, 

 and are afterwards potted and treated like young seed- 

 lings. When the leaves are firm, they may either be 

 inserted in fine soil like cuttings with a portion of the 

 petiole or footstalk, or by cutting through the midribs 

 at several places and pegging down the leaves on cocoa 

 fibre or sand in a close frame. 



Old tubers of Gloxinias should be carefully stored in 

 winter beyond the reach of frost, and started into growth 

 in February in small pots in a temperature of about 

 sixty-five degrees. Until they have fairly begun to 

 grow they should have little water. Similar treatment 

 is suitable for some of the other Gesneraceous plants, 

 such as the Gesnerias. 



HTEMANTHUSES 



The Haemanthus is a handsome and distinct-looking 

 plant, but it is seldom that one meets with it in private 

 gardens. Its usefulness is lessened by its handsome 

 leaves appearing at a different time from the flowers, 

 but this fault may be partly concealed by an arrangement 

 of other plants about the pots containing the Haemanthi. 

 A few of the species can be grown in a cool green- 

 house, but the greater number ought to be cultivated 

 in a higher temperature. H. sanguineus is one of the 

 easiest to grow and the writer has grown and flowered 

 it yearly in a house from which frost was only excluded 

 and where the temperature fell to near freezing point. 

 For the greater number, however, a temperature of from 

 fifty to sixty degrees in the growing season is best. 

 After flowering they should have a short period of rest. 



