40 Notes and Gleanings. 



a fifteen-inch pot, and it will make a large specimen by August, and it may 

 remain good a year or two longer. — Cottage Gardener. 



Culture of Gasterias. — The gasterias belong to the aloe section of the 

 lily-worts. They are very nice plants for a succulent collection. They will do 

 well in a house kept from 45° in winter to 60° and more in summer. They 

 flourish best in sandy loam with a little peat and very rotten dry cow-dung, and 

 some lime rubbish and broken bricks, — say two parts sandy loam, half a part 

 of cow-dung, and half a part of broken bricks and lime rubbish. The chief 

 care they require is to keep them nearly or almost dry, when in a state of rest 

 in winter. If the pots stand on a damp stone or damp gravel, they will absorb 

 enough of moisture in the dark months. 



Selaginella {Ch(b-moss) C/ESIA Culture. — The plants growing in wire- 

 baskets become brown because exposed to too strong a light. At best, it is not 

 a very good basket-plant ; for it does not continue sufficiently long in foliage. 

 For a few months, it is rather handsome ; but, when the frond-like foliage loses 

 its fresh appearance, it becomes of a brown, dingy hue, losing its metallic lustre, 

 and is then the reverse of ornamental. The way we grow it is in pans eighteen 

 inches wide and six inches deep. After placing at the bottom a couple of inches 

 of broken pots for drainage, the pan is filled to the rim with turfy brown peat 

 two-thirds, and one-third chopped sphagnum and charcoal from the size of a hazel 

 up to that of walnut. The plants are then taken from the store-pans and laid 

 on the surface in pieces two or three inches square, and six inches apart, the first 

 row three inches from the rim of the pan. The spaces between the tufts are 

 filled with a compost of turfy sandy peat two-thirds, and one-third loam, broken 

 and made fine, and sifted through an inch sieve, adding one-sixth of silver sand. 

 This compost is put in high enough to slightly cover the tufts ; and, the surface 

 being pressed gently, a good watering settles all nicely around the tufts. 

 Placed in a warm and rather dark or slightly-shaded house, such as a vinery 

 at work, if the atmosphere is kept moist, and watering well attended to, this 

 selaginella quickly covers the surface, and hangs over the sides of the pan. 

 Throughout the summer, it forms a fine object in a cool, shaded house ; to which 

 it should be removed from heat after a good growth has been made. We pot in 

 spring, when the young growths are an inch or so long. In winter, the foliage 

 is allowed to remain until it dies down, when it is cut off close. We keep it in 

 winter in a house having a temperature of from 45° to 50°, giving no more 

 water than a little now and then to prevent the soil from becoming very dry : it 

 is best kept just moist. We repot every other year. — Cottage Gardener. 



Propagating Begonias and Gloxinias from Leaves. — Fill a well- 

 drained pot or pan (the latter is best for begonias) to the rim with a compost of 

 sandy peat and loam and silver sand in equal parts, and cover the surface with 

 a thin layer of silver sand. Take a begonia-leaf which is about half or three 

 parts developed, cut away the leaf-stalk to within half an inch of the blade, and 

 insert the remainder of the leaf-stalk close to the rim of the pot or pan. Lay 



