272 Improved Culture of Calceolaria corymbhsa. 



Wales, it constitutes the principal provender for the horses, 

 from November to April. 



1 remain, Sir, &c. 

 March 2. 1829. Spinosa. 



Art. XI. An improved Mode of cultivating the Calceolaria corym- 

 bosa. By Mr. James Rollins. 



Sir, 

 The plan on which I cultivate Calceolaria corymbosa 

 enables me to have it with from fourteen to eighteen stems, 

 each bearing, on an average, thirty flowers. The cultivation 

 of this plant is difficult, owing to its liability to damp off in the 

 winter. To guard against this, as soon as my plants have done 

 flowering, say about the end of June, I detach the side-shoots 

 carefully, each with a joint, and immediately prick them into 

 a pot prepared for their reception. The pot must be well 

 drained by potsherds, and filled to within an inch of the top 

 with finely sifted peat soil, over which is put one inch of finely 

 sifted white sand. This is well watered, and allowed to settle 

 before the cuttings are put in. The cuttings are dibbed into 

 the sand with a pointed stick, closely, but not touching each 

 other; they are then watered, and soon after covered with a 

 bell-glass, which should be kept dry by being wiped every, 

 morning and evening, and by never watering till the sand 

 becomes dry. In the course of a month, the cuttings will be 

 fit to pot off into small pots, called, about Liverpool, 30s, in 

 a soil composed of equal parts of rotten wood, earth, and light 

 old hot-bed soil, well mixed. The plants are then set on a 

 shady shelf in the green-house, where they have plenty of air, 

 till about the end of October. At this time I remove them to 

 the cool end of a stove, where, being kept moderately watered, 

 they remain till the beginning of March, when they are again 

 brought to their former situation in the green-house. As they 

 increase in growth, the plants are repeatedly shifted into larger 

 pots, till they are fixed in pots No. 12. The compost used in 

 these shiftings is formed of three parts old hotbed soil, and one 

 part rotten wood. Seedlings, raised from the seed sown as 

 soon as it is ripe, are potted and treated in the same way as I 

 do cuttings. Where there is no stove, the warmest end of a 

 green-house will be found suitable for this plant, as it does not 

 require a much higher temperature than about 50° of Fahr. 



I am, Sir, &c. James Rollins, 



Dingle Bank, near Liver pool, June 24. 



