182 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



All these thrive in the greenhouse in the normal compost. They 

 are propagated by cuttings towards the end of winter, but the 

 invaluable splendens comes well from seed. 



Schizanthus (Butterfly Flower). Beautiful plants are these, 

 with abundance of light sprays, densely clothed in bloom. There 

 are no plants more free-flowering, none more elegant, though many 

 more brilliant in colour. They come readily from seed, and will 

 flower in an unheated greenhouse in late summer and early autumn 

 if sown in spring. Seeds sown in a heated greenhouse in August 

 or September produce plants which will bloom profusely in the 

 following year. Every owner of a greenhouse must grow the 

 lovely Butterfly Flowers. He must not think that because the 

 botanical name is somewhat long and difficult the plant itself is 

 forbidding. Long, hard names seem to cling to the Butterfly 

 Flower. Thus, one of the prettiest of the older kinds is called 

 papilionaceus, while the magnificent new sort which has charmed 

 all lovers of this delightful annual is called Schizanthus Wise- 

 tonensis. It is tough, certainly, but the plant would be grown 

 if a dozen more names equally formidable were tacked on to it. 

 Coming readily from seed, charming in colour, neat in habit 

 with a little pinching, so free in blooming that the plants are 

 perfect pyramids of blossom, it is one of the real gems of the 

 floral world. The normal soil suits it to admiration. 



Solanum (Winter Cherry}. The flowers of this plant are of 

 little beauty, and it would not be grown much were it not for its 

 bright orange berries, which form freely, and hang most of the 

 winter. The species capsicastrum is the one to order from the 

 seedsman, and it will be found very easy to manage. It not only 

 comes readily from seed, but also from cuttings, which may be 

 struck from portions of young shoots when the plants start grow- 

 ing after being cut back, which is done when the berries begin to 

 shrivel. The cuttings had better be given bottom heat to insure 

 their rooting quickly. The plants will be all right in a cold frame, 



