102 THE amateur's geeenhouse 



tlie winter, where a mean temperature of 45° is maintained. 

 As decorative plants, they are invaluable, for they last good 

 a long time, and are moreover particularly useful for mixing 

 with other everlasting flowers for making up vases for winter 

 decorations, their colours being so distinct from everything else 

 in the same way. 



Stocks of several kinds may be turned to good account for 

 the conservatory, their spicy odour being as welcome as their 

 bold spikes of double flowers. To grow them well in pots is 

 not so easy a matter as may appear to amateurs who have not 

 made the experiment ; consequently, those who are alto- 

 gether inexperienced must not expect triumphant success in 

 the first instance. 



The seed should be sown in a shallow box or pan on the Ist 

 of August, and be shut up in a frame until sprouted, after 

 which full exposure to light and air is necessary. As soon as 

 the plants are large enough to handle, pot them into 48-sized 

 pots, three plants in a pot. The compost should consist of 

 turfy loam, two parts, and good rotten manure one part. Tliey 

 must be potted firmly, or they will not thrive ; keep them fully 

 exposed to the weather until frost is likely, when remove 

 them to a cold pit, and put a mat over when the weather is 

 severe. 



Early in January take the forwardest to the greenhouse and 

 keep them near the glass. In the middle of February remove 

 them to a temperature of 50° to 60°, syringe them daily, and 

 keep them watered with weak liquid manure. They will flower 

 finely, and repay you for your trouble. 



Those left in the pit are to be taken to the greenhouse in 

 February, and are to remain there until they flower, to succeed 

 the first lot, as they will not want any more heat than they will 

 obtain here. 



It is a good plan to put out a lot of the plants from the 

 August sowing in a bed of light rich soil in a turf pit, and in 

 the spring lift them carefully, and plant them in a bed near 

 the windows, to perfume the welcome breath of the early 

 summer. 



Steeptantheea. — This scarce Cape bulb is by some con- 

 sidered a gladiolus, but it is a true Irid. S. cujprea is the most 

 handsome, being a rosy copper-colour with black marks in the 



