102 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
{ August 8, 1878. 
endorse what has been written by many others, that this is a 
variety second to none.—A. HARDING. 
HERBACEOUS CALCEOLARIAS. 
For providing a display of these beautiful greenhouse flowers 
next May and June seed must be sown as soon as possible 
after the present time (August Ist). If sown much sooner 
the plants are apt to become too large before winter—that is, 
if they are shifted-on regularly as the pots fill with roots, 
while if they are not duly potted the plants become stunted 
and fall a prey to insects. The stems also when the plants 
are kept in a root-bound state not unfrequently become hard 
and woody, and after the plants have been shifted in the spring 
they occasionally die outright. Some mysterious “disease” is 
then supposed to have overtaken the collection, but in three 
cases out of five the evils that occur are due to some error of 
treatment committed, it may be, some months before its effects 
are seen, or at any rate before they assume a serious phase. 
Calceolarias, like Celery, love a cool moist atmosphere, and 
grow most rapidly during the autumn months. They should 
be kept steadily growing, also, through the winter, and in the 
spring when they are given their final shift they will again move 
with great vigour, and in due time will give a rich return for 
all the attention that has been bestowed upon them. 
It is wonderful that a seed so small as that of the Calceolaria 
should germinate and develope in the short space of ten 
months into a plant so massive and gorgeous—a plant, for 
instance, a foot high having a dense head of flowers 2 feet 
across, a sturdy main stem as thick as a man’s thumb, and an 
amplitude of luxuriant foliage obscuring half the pot. Hundreds 
of plants of that type are each year produced, but only by 
having received unremitting attention on the part of the cul- 
tivator. It is not any great amount of skill that is required 
to grow Calceolarias well, the secret of success is to be found 
in the paying of close attention to simple details of culture 
throughout the whole period of the plant’s growth. 
A few errors somewhat common in Calceolaria culture may, 
perhaps, be pointed out with profit to some who are essaying 
the culture of these handsome flowers. They are—l, Sowing 
the seed too soon and too thickly ; 2, Deferring pricking-off 
and potting the plants unduly, and permitting them to be 
overcrowded ; 3, Allowing insects to gain a footing on the 
foliage ; and 4, Placing the plants in a structure where the 
atmosphere is too warm and dry, and where they too often 
suffer by not being watered sufficiently copiously, yet intelli- 
ently. 
: aecine pointed out the danger, a safe course may now be 
sketched. It is as follows: Drain some pots or pans well, and 
protect the drainage witha layer of moss or clean fibre ; fill them 
within haif an inch of their rims with light, rich, sifted soil. 
Tf it is lumpy the young plants cannot be removed without 
haying their roots broken. Half of the compost may consist 
of very old manure crumbling to decay, and the other half of 
loam with silver sand added according as the loam is light or 
heavy. If old decayed manure cannot be had, leaf soil will 
do for mixing with the loam; at any rate the compost must 
be light and tolerably dry when used. It must not be pressed 
into the pots very firmly or the tender radicles of the young 
plant will not penetrate it freely, which is a fertile cause of 
failure. Water the soil thoroughly, twice if required, an hour 
or two before the seed is sown. Sow very thinly and do not 
cover with soil, but keep the surface dark and moist, and every 
good seed will germinate. A proper place for the seed pans 
is the most cool and moist place that can be found in the open 
air, such as on the north side of a building, but not under trees. 
Place a square of glass across the pan, and over the glass a 
piece of slate, or the pan may be placed under a handlight or 
in a small frame to be kept well shaded for a week. The 
moment signs of germination are apparent light must be 
gradually admitted, and in a few days no shading whatever 
must be employed. The soil must be kept regularly moist yet 
must not be watered, a far preferable plan being to place the 
pots or pans in large saucers containing a few inches deep of 
water, and the proper moisture will be secured. In dark, 
close, moist frames even that precaution is not necessary, as 
eyaporation being reduced to a minimum the soil will retain 
sufficient moisture for the germination of the seed. When the 
seedlings appear water must be given carefully yet sufficiently. 
It is best to pour it very gently round the sides of the pan 
and let it float over the surface of the soil in sufficient quantity 
to percolate the entire bulk. Frequent dewings, that are £0 
commonly indulged in, keeping the surface moist while the 
soil below is dry, constitute a fertile source of the plants damp- 
ing-off. Thin sowing has been advocated, and it is highly 
important. It means that a small packet of seed such as is 
ordinarily sold for 2s. 6d. must not be sown in a 5-inch pot, 
but in a pan at least a foot in diameter. The plants will then 
come up thinly and will assume a sturdy growth from the 
beginning, a character which with good culture they will 
retain throughout their career. 
The after cultivation of the plants is easy. As soon as the 
seedlings can be handled transplant them an inch or two apart 
in boxes of light rich soil, place them in a frame, keep them 
moist, shade for a day or two until they emit fresh roots, and 
then allow them light and air freely. Just before the plants 
touch each other pot them, using now somewhat heavier and 
unsifted soil, potting rather firmly but not hard. Immediately 
the roots are seen to be fairly active, yet before they adhere to 
the sides of the pot, shift them into larger, the shift being just 
sufficient to enable the work being done comfortably. Ateach 
potting the soil may be somewhat heavier than before, and when 
placed in their blooming pots it may consist of two-thirds of 
rich and rather strong turfy loam and a third of very much 
decayed manure, mixing with each barrowful of the compost 
a 7-inch potiul of bone dust, and similar quantities of soot and 
clean silver sand. At this potting the soil should be made 
decidedly firm. Firm potting promotes firm sturdy growth, 
light potting longer and more succulent growth. At all times 
the plants must be handled carefully, and not a leaf must be 
broken during the operation of potting, but a few of the lower 
leaves may be removed if it is thought necessary to better 
induce the emission of roots from the stem. 
Watering must be carefully practised, especially after each 
potting and when the soil is rather heavy and firm. Before 
being potted the balls of the plants must be decidedly moist 
but not wet, and the soil must also be in the same wholesome 
state as to moisture. The pots must be well drained, and the 
drainage well protected from soil particles, or the crocks may 
almost as well be outside the pots as in. : 
Until October the plants may be grown in frames facing the 
north, the lights being removed during all fine nights, so that 
the plants receive the night dews, which they enjoy greatly. 
The pots should be placed on ashes, a sharp look-out being 
kept for slugs. Early in October the plants should be placed 
in frames having a southern aspect, and there they may remain 
until severe weather sets in, when they should be removed to 
light houses ; or with care and due protection they may be 
wintered in frames if better conveniences are not afforded. In 
spring, as the days lengthen and heat increases, let them haye 
light, air, and water in abundance ; they will seldom require 
shading, and their shoots, not even the central shoots, will 
tarely or never require stopping, but the plants will branch 
naturally and form level heads of bloom. When the flower 
buds are fairly visible water the plants with weak clear soot 
water twice or thrice a week. The soil should never be so dry 
that it crumbles to the touch. 
And now to one of the most important points of all. If suc- 
cess is to be achieved an insect must never be seen on the 
plants. If you can see one there will be twenty others that 
you cannot see, and if plants are once allowed to be infested 
they can never be cleared without sustaining injury. As soon 
as the plants are fairly established after each potting fumigate 
them lightly, and in the spring fumigate them once a fortnight. 
A very little tobacco or tobacco paper is requisite, as all that is 
wanted is to keep the odour of smoke about the plants, and 
insects will not then attack them. That is not only the most 
effectual, but is the most economical mode of fumigating. 
It is by carrying out the above-described practice in all its 
details that has enabled plants being produced which have 
won much admiration, and which have secured honours at 
public exhibitions. All seedsmen of reputation take care to 
sell good Calceolaria seed ; let it be purchased at once, and be 
sown promptly.—AN EXHIBITOR. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
For some years past I haye been making experiments to 
ascertain which are the best and most productive Strawberries 
in my garden. I have tried nearly all the best sorts in culti- 
vation and have given them a fair trial, not of one year only, 
but of three or four years, before I decided on their merits or 
demerits. 
For the past three years there has been an abundant crop, 
