CINERARIAS AND CALCEOLARIAS. 127 



The laths should be uailed across the width, and not lengthwise of 

 the framework. 



The laths should be of half-inch stock and one inch wide, leaving 

 a space of half an inch between the laths. When finished, paint 

 them one or two coats, and you will have neat and durable shades 

 that will last many years. They are also the best shades for many 

 other purposes. 



Presuming now that the seedlings are in boxes under this care- 

 fully prepared canopy, they will make rapid progress in growth. 

 In a very short time they can be transferred from the boxes to 

 three-inch pots, returning them to the frames thereafter and 

 plunging them in coal ashes, or any other loose material, up to the 

 rims of the pots. Coal ashes is preferable on account of its 

 porosity and as a barrier to earthworms. 



The soil at this potting may have a further addition of loam, 

 and a corresponding decrease of sand, with a small quantity of 

 well decayed cow manure or sheep manure added. 



All that is necessary now for a while is shading, watering, and 

 syringing overhead at least once a day on hot, bright days ; 

 preferably in the evening after the sun has passed entirely away 

 from them. This operation is chiefly to furnish the necessary 

 moisture in the bed, to keep down thrip and red spider, and to 

 furnish to the leaves the equivalent of moisture that has been 

 evaporated from them during the day. There is another enemy 

 that is exceedingly partial to the cineraria, and that is the green 

 fly, which must be looked after with the utmost vigilance. While 

 the plants are growing in frames the best way to combat this pest 

 is to chop tobacco stems and strew them all over the surface of the 

 bed to a considerable thickness, renewing them at intervals to 

 insure their destroying effect. 



The usually very hot and dry atmosphere during the latter part 

 of June, and until the middle of August is a severe handicap for 

 any rapid growth. This is the only time that cinerarias can be 

 considered as difficult to grow, for in spite of all care, some of 

 them are likely to perish. After the middle of August it is 

 comparatively easy sailing for the cultivator, and instead of being 

 at his wit's end, to keep them living and healthy, he will now be at 

 his wit's end to keep them successfully provided with pot room ; 

 for be it understood that, like many other plants of a rapidly 

 growing nature, cinerarias should not become pot-bound until 

 they are finally established in their flowering pots. 



