46 STOVE AND GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 



Fertilizing Primula Flowers— Any extra good forms of Primula sinen- 

 sie or P. obconica, desirable on account of large flowers, shape, or color, 

 should be set aside for seed. During the Winter months, when insects are 

 scarce, fertilization -will have to be done by hand, as it is rarely the case 

 that a flower of Primula is fertilized by its own pollen. For seed plants 

 preference should be given to those having the pistil protruding from 

 the corolla tube. It may be stated that primroses have two kinds of 

 flowers, each kind on separate plants, one having what is called the 

 style elongated until the stigma shows plainly from the mouth of the 

 tube formed by the bases of the petals, while the stamens are attached 

 near the bottom of^ this tube. In the other flower the positions of the 

 organs are reversed, the style being shortened so that the stigma is 

 more than half way down the tube; and the stamens are in full view 

 near the mouth of the tube exactly in the position occupied by the 

 stigma of the long-styled flower. The pollen of the Primrose is ripe 

 before the petals are expanded, but at this stage the stigma of the s^me 

 flower is not in a condition to receive it. Those flowers having elon- 

 gated styles are easiest to manipulate, and if I am not mistaken, they 

 are the best seed bearers. Pollen, from either short or long-styled 

 flowers, may be applied to the stigmas. When it is necessary to fertilize 

 those with short styles, it is, of course, impossible to get at the stigmas 

 with a small brush, owing to the anthers filling the mouth of the corolla 

 tube, but with a pair of small scissors the corolla tube may be snapped 

 in two immediately below that part to which the stamens are attached, 

 thus giving easy ingress to the stigma. Keep the atmosphere as dry as 

 possible while the pollen is acting. 



REINWARDTIA (LINUH) TRIQYNUM and R. TETRAGYNUM are both 

 desirable Winter flowering plants. R. trigynum is the best known; the 

 other one has light yellow flowers and is the most floriferous. They 

 may be planted outside, middle of May, and lifted during the end of 

 September, if large specimens are required for the greenhouse; or from 

 cuttings rooted in April they may be grown on in pots, pinching occa- 

 sionally. R. trigynum is the only one which seeds freely. 



ROCHEA FALCATA or Crassula falcata, is the principal member of a 

 small genus of plants indigenous to the Cape of Good Hope. The 

 fol'age is rather peculiar in that the leaves are thick, blunt and formed 

 somewhat after the shape of a curved knife. The principal attraction 

 lies in the flowers, which are bright scarlet, small, but produced in im- 

 mense numbers in flat heads. Although in Summer it will stand an 

 abundance of water in fully exposed situations, it should be given drier 

 conditions in Winter. It will succeed well enough in a house suitable for 

 Geraniums. The Rochea is a slow-growing plant, consequently getting 

 up a stock is a tedious process. The tips of the shoots make the finest 

 plants, and the pieces of the stem next the place where the tip has been 

 taken off, can be utilized for as much of its length as will be safe to 

 enable it to break out again. For leaf cuttings the leaves must be cut 

 off cleanly and put in sand, much in the same way as Echeverias, only a 

 little more heat should be given during the rooting process. Encourage 

 old plants to send out small growths along the old stems by taking out 



