THE CINERARIA. Ill 



the month of June. The florists' varieties have now 

 arrived at a pitch of perfection never before known. 

 The flowers have attained to a size and character that 

 can scarcely he excelled. There is no flower more 

 accommodating than the Cineraria : nor can a sub- 

 stitute for it be found for display during the early 

 spring months. 



The propagation of it consists in raising it from 

 seed, and by offsets or young side crown shoots which 

 arise from the old plants after flowering. These are 

 taken off with the knife, with a small quantity of root if 

 possible, and at once potted into small 60-size pots, 

 using a compost of two parts of decayed leaf-mould, or 

 pulverised hotbed, manure, and one part of maiden soil, 

 mixed together and sifted through a ^-mesh sieve. Pot 

 the offsets well, and set the pots in a cold frame 

 facing the north. Shade them in the middle of the 

 day, and keep them close for a week or a fortnight. 

 Water them well at the first potting, and slightly 

 sprinkle them with a fine rose every evening at four 

 o'clock. When these pots are filled with root, shift 

 the plants into small 48-size pots, set them in the 

 frame, and give abundance of air day and night, and 

 continue the sprinkling overhead every evening. As 

 soon as these pots are filled with root, shift them into 

 32-size (6-inch) pots, and set them out of doors 

 under a north wall, and continue the sprinkling over- 

 head daily if the weather is dry. If largo plants 

 are wished for, shift the plants from these pots into 

 8-inch. 



By Seed. — Sow the seed under a handlight in a 

 shady spot in June — or May, if early plants are wanted. 

 Choose the spot, and prepare a bed (with the same kind 

 of soil as recommended for the offsets) 2 inches thick, 

 press the soil down firmly, make quite even, and then 

 water the bed : let it remain for a few minutes, then 

 sow the seed evenly over the surface, sprinkling as 

 much fine soil over it as will just cover it, and put the 

 light on. Keep it close, and the seed will soon vege- 

 tate. When the plants are possessed of four leaves 



