AND CONSEEVATOET. 81 



tion to a named collection. "We will suppose you have secured 

 a few of the iinest named varieties, that they have ilowered to 

 your satisfaction, and you have now to look out for nursery stock. 

 The first step will be to remove the flower-stems before the 

 flowers have quite finished their career, for if you allow seeds 

 to form you will get no off'sets. Put the plants in a cold frame, 

 keep them regularly supplied with water, and take the lights 

 off" and let them enjoy full exposure to the weather as soon as 

 the season is advanced enough, and do not on any account 

 allow them to be roasted by a hot sun. They may be planted 

 out in May, but they must not be forgotten afterwards. In 

 the first week of August you may look for ofisets. Take them 

 ofi" carefully with a bit of root to each, and put them four or 

 five in a five-inch pot, each ofi'set next the pot and touching it : 

 give them a sprinkle and shut them up in a cold frame. 

 Keep them close and shaded and regularly sprinkled, and they 

 will soon be plants, when they must be potted oft" singly in 

 three-inch pots and be sprinkled for a few days and then have 

 plenty of light and air. 



Now it must be confessed that although the cineraria is 

 a greenhouse plant, it can always be better grown in a brick pit 

 than in any greenhouse, for an equable temperature and a 

 certain degree of humidity which does not reach the stage we 

 term " damp" is required for its perfect development. But 

 not one degree of frost must ever touch a cineraria, so the 

 greenhouse is the proper place to winter the stock unless the 

 pits are heated. From the time the offsets are well started 

 until the beginning of November, the plants should be shifted 

 on as they fill their pots with roots, and six-inch pots are 

 the largest size they can be put in the first season, and, as a 

 rule, very nice plants may be made in five-inch pots, if they 

 are assisted when pot bound with weak manure water. It is a 

 nice task to keep the same plants on from year to year, but if 

 it is well managed you may have them three feet across in the 

 third year, forming gorgeous hemispheres of colour. During 

 winter use as little fire-heat as possible ; just suflBcientto keep 

 cut the frost, with the aid of a covering on the glass. When 

 exposed to much artificial heat the leaves will curl, and the 

 plants be more or less spoiled. On the other hand, a little 

 artificial warmth in very dull and damp weather will be of 

 considerable service to maintain a sweet moving atmosphere. 



Damp and mildew are the principal enemies to the cineraria, 



