CALCEOLARIA 



CALCEOLARIA 



625 



derivatives. C. crenatiflora seems to have left its impress 

 most distinctly on the greenhouse forms. The calceo- 

 larias are grown for the variously colored and often 

 spotted slipper-like flowers. The shrubby forms, grown 

 much in England, do not thrive in the heat of the 

 American summer. 



The cultivation of the herbaceous and the shrubby 

 kinds of calceolarias is about the same, with the dif- 

 ference that the herbaceous kinds are nearly always 

 grown from seeds, while the shrubby varieties are 

 oftener grown from cuttings. Seeds may be sown from 

 the end of March until the first of September, according 

 to the size of the plant required. Those sown early are 

 more easily carried through the hot months than any 

 that are propagated in the end of May or in the month 

 of June. Sow the seeds in shallow pans with good 

 drainage in a compost of equal parts of sand and of 



the day. For a first potting (which may be to 2- 

 inch pots) the same mixture in which the seeds were 

 sown is the best, and the seedlings should be big 

 enough to be easily held between the finger and thumb ; 

 and as the plants are moved along into larger pots, 

 equal parts of fibrous loam, fern-root, leaf-mold, sand 

 and dried cow-manure may be used, always having 

 this compost in as lumpy a state as can be equally 

 and conveniently packed around the plant. When the 

 plants are well rooted in their flowering pots, they may 

 be watered with manure water. An ordinary handful 

 of green cow-manure to about three gallons of water 

 may be used, and if any of the commonly used fertili- 

 zers are to be employed for a change, the same amount 

 of fertilizer to an equal amount of water is about right; 

 but always water with clean water twice between these 

 applications. If cuttings are to be used for the propa- 

 gation of calceolarias, they should be rooted in a 

 temperature of 45 to 50, kept shaded from the sun. 

 Cuttings may be procured from the plants that are 

 trimmed into shape during their growing period (in 

 August or September) and should have two leaves 

 attached and another joint to go in the sand. When 

 rooted, treat them as described above for the seedlings. 

 The varieties of the rugosa section are largely used for 

 bedding plants in Europe. Calceolarias are very sub- 

 ject to attacks of green- and white-fly; the best means 

 of keeping these pests in check is by fumigation with 

 hydrocyanic gas. In the evening is the best time to 

 fumigate, and the foliage of the plants should be per- 

 fectly dry; in fact, it is better if possible to use no water 

 at all in the greenhouse the day they are to be treated. 

 In the hot months of summer, a cool evening should 

 be selected and one-quarter of an ounce of cyanide 

 of potassium, one ounce of sulfuric acid and 

 two ounces of water to every 1,000 cubic feet 

 contained in the greenhouse may be used. (See 

 Fumigation.) The house at this season of the year 

 should be opened up in forty-five minutes after 

 the cyanide has been dropped into the liquid. 

 Repeat at intervals of about three weeks. In winter 

 the quantity may be doubled to the same cubic feet of 

 space, and the house may be kept closed until morn- 

 ing. When opening the ventilators after fumigating 

 in this manner, do not breathe in the greenhouse until 

 the air has changed, say about half an hour after, as 

 the gas is deadly to human beings. Fumigating with 

 tobacco will kill the green-fly, but it has no effect on 

 the white-fly. (Geo. F. Stewart.) 



739. Calceolaria herbeohybrida. 



the peat which is shaken out of fern-root that is to be 

 used for potting orchids, adding about one-fourth of 

 charcoal. All this should be sifted through a fine sieve. 

 This material should be well mixed and placed an inch 

 in depth in the receptacle that the seeds are to be 

 sown in. The surface should be made as level as pos- 

 sible, and the seeds, after being thinly scattered over 

 the same, may be pressed gently into the compost, 

 covering them very lightly with sphagnum moss sifted 

 through a very fine sieve. Water by dipping the pan 

 in a tank of water, allowing it to soak through the holes 

 in the bottom of the pan. This mode of watering is 

 not so liable to disturb the small seeds, as an overhead 

 watering with a fine rose on the watering-pot. A tem- 

 perature of 60 will cause calceolaria seeds to germi- 

 nate, but the sun should not strike them until the cool 

 of autumn comes. A greenhouse with a northern aspect 

 is best for them until the end of September, giving all 

 the air possible day and night. From the first of 

 October until the end of March, the plants will stand 

 the full sun, and should then be grown in a night 

 temperature of 40, allowing 10 or 15 of rise during 



A. Herbaceous calceolarias, some of them parents of the 

 florists' varieties of this country. 



B. Lvs. simple. 

 c. F Is. essentially yellow. 



1. crenatifldra, Cav. (C. pendula, Sweet. C. mirab- 

 ilis, Knowl. & Wesc.). One to 2 ft., the st. soft-hairy, 

 terete: radical Ivs ovate and long-petioled (the petioles 

 winged at top), undulate and dentate, sometimes 

 obscurely lobed, rugose and pubescent, paler beneath, 

 often purplish toward the tip; st.-lvs. shorter-petioled 

 and becoming sessile above: fls. in a forking corymb, 

 the slipper large, oblong or oblong-obovate, fur- 

 rowed or crenate, hanging, yellow, with orange-brown 

 dots. Chile. B.M. 3255. From this species we appear 

 to have derived the spots of calceolaria fls. 



