112 THE TREE PROPAGATOR AND PLANTER. 



give tliem air. Pot off as soon as they can be handled 

 well, and treat them as for the offsets before referred 

 to. In all cases house the Cinerarias as soon as there 

 is danger of frost, but use no more fire than is neces- 

 sary to exclude the frost, and continue the syringing 

 daily. 



The Calceolaria [Scrophulariacece). 



Many declare that the Calceolaria is so difficult to 

 grow that they are obliged to abandon the cultivation 

 of it altogether ; but I must say I cannot understand 

 this, for I have grown it for many years, and I 

 never found it a difficult matter. Too much coddling 

 and nursing is, I am convinced, the chief cause of 

 failure. The herbaceous Calceolarias must be raised 

 annually from seed ; the shrubby kinds are propagated 

 by cuttings. 



Sow the seed in May in a seed-pan filled with fine- 

 sifted maiden loam and good leaf-mould of equal 

 parts, with some silver sand added. Well drain the 

 pan by covering the crocks with a layer of rough 

 siftings of the above compost ; then fill up with the 

 fine compost (an inch of this will do). Make it firm 

 and even, then water the soil so as to soak it fairly, and 

 sow the seed at once, sprinkling as much clean silver 

 sand over the surface as will barely cover it, and no 

 more. Lay a flat square of glass over the pan, and set 

 it in a cold frame or in the shady part of the green 

 house, where very little or no sun can come to it. No 

 water will be required till the seed is up, when air 

 must be admitted ; pot off as soon as the plants can be 

 handled well, and set them in a cold frame facing the 

 north, and continue them in the cold frame, giving an 

 abundance of air night and day all through the summer 

 months. 



By the month of September shift the plants into 

 5-inch (48) size pots, and place them in a deep pit as 

 soon as any danger of frost arises. Here they should 

 remain all the winter to protect them. In March shift 

 them into their flowering-pots (6-inch), and continue 



