NEW ZEALAND GARDENING. 95 



ing them from frost. They will do well in a temperature 

 ranging from 35 to 45, with air and moisture in proportion. 

 They will grow rapidly, even in Winter, at 45 to 55, standing 

 on ashes to keep them free from worms, and having plenty 

 of air. Whenever the pots are full of roots the plants will 

 be inclined to throw up their flower-stems, and therefore 

 they must be potted on, to prevent the roots matting, when 

 large specimens are required. Seedlings will bloom well 

 in six-inch pots, plants sown in February would fill that 

 size, and bloom in November. To bloom in December 

 and January, they must be shifted at the end of October 

 and the end of November. Seeds sown in September, or 

 October, will produce plants to bloom in Autumn ; they 

 should be kept under glass at first, but after December will 

 do best in a shady place out of doors. 



Cuttings. The best time for making cuttings from old 

 plants will be as soon as the young shoots can be had after 

 flowering, though cuttings will root at any time. They also 

 strike freely in the Spring with a mild bottom heat. Those 

 truly herbaceous may likewise be divided. The pots should 

 be prepared as for seeds, only having very sandy soil, or 

 half an inch of sand on the surface. A south border, under 

 hand-lights, is the best place for cuttings in Summer and 

 Autumn ; they should have no heat then. They will strike 

 very fast in mild bottom heat in Spring. Shrubby varieties, 

 for flower-beds, strike well in a shady place, with or without 

 glass, during the month of March. They will strike in a 

 quarter of the time, in Spring, in a mild heat. 



Soil. Rich light, sandy loam grows them to perfection. 

 Four parts of sweet, fibry loam, one of sand, and one of 

 flaky, dry cow manure, or thoroughly decomposed leaf mould, 

 will grow them admirably. Calceolarias are very impatient 

 of drought. 



General Treatment. From the time the seedlings are 

 up, or the cuttings inserted, they should never be allowed 

 to get quite dry. If well drained, and in open material, 

 there is less danger from damp than dryness. In all 

 shiftings see that the ball is wet before giving it another 

 pot, and use the soil in a condition neither hot nor 

 dry. In Winter they should be as near the glass as 

 possible. In frosty weather, when much artificial heat 



