CALCEOLABIAS. 143 



deciduous shrubs can be used more than once. After 

 flowering, they should be removed to a cool room and 

 from there to a cold pit, from which they should be 

 planted again in nursery rows, and in two years can 

 again be used for forcing. 



CHAPTER IX. 



CALCEOLABIAS. 



The public is beginning to appreciate the value of 

 calceolarias as spring-blooming pot plants. They are 

 very interesting in their structure and striking in their 

 general appearance (Fig. 54). For early planting, the 

 seeds, which should be of some choice strain, are sown 

 as early as the middle of June, but for April flowering, 

 during which month they should be in their prime, 

 reliance should be had on July-sown seed, while to 

 secure a later succession another batch should be put in 

 some time in August. 



The seed should be sown in shallow pans upon a 

 light compost, with a slight covering of sifted soil, and 

 placed in a cool house, or, better, a frame, which should 

 be well ventilated and shaded. If the frame is in a 

 sheltered spot, faced to the North, and a lath screen is 

 used in addition to a shaded sash, which is raised a few 

 inches above the frame, we have given the seeds and 

 future plants as nearly perfect surroundings, during a 

 hot, dry summer, as can be secured. As soon as large 

 enough, the seedlings should be pricked out into flats, and 

 later into two- and three-inch pots, using a rich, fibrous 

 compost composed of equal parts of rotted sods, loam, 

 decayed manure and sand. Leaf mold can be added to 

 advantage for the small plants. The plants should be 



