82 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



[ Febrnary 2, 1871. 



-• 



tliafwhatever the kind of cuttings, most of them root pretty 

 freely ; succulent long-jointed shoots, with hollow stems, seem 

 to stiffen after being inserted in the ground, and eventually 

 furnish stocky plants. 



Our mode of putting in the cuttings is to level and dig the 

 ground in the pit, and add as much roadside or drift sand as 

 seems necessary to make the soil open ; but before that, if it 

 should happen that the same place has had a heavy crop of 

 Calceolarias upon it the preceding season, the soil is thrown 

 out upon the kitchen-garden side, and as much taken from 

 thence as will replace it, the exchange being equally beneficial 

 to kitchen-garden crops. Of course all stones of large size are 

 kept out, and the ground for the Calceolarias is not dug more 

 than 6 inches deep. Sufficient sand having been added, and a 

 board for the workman to stand on, he inserts the cuttings in 

 rows, as nearly 3 inches apart as possible, and certainly not 

 more than 2 inches from each other in the row ; this gives 

 twenty-four to every square foot, and I think there aie some- 

 times more than that. The cuttings remain till, probably, the 

 beginning of March, when they will be well rooted, and alter- 

 nate rows are lifted out by a sharp spade being thrust in on 

 each side of them. These rows are bedded out in some 

 sheltered place in suitable soil, and the places they occupied 

 are filled up with fresh soil, so that the plants which remain 

 have more room to grow. I very seldom stop them, except in 

 the case of some that are not likely to have a chance of being 

 planted out soon, in which case stopping maybe practised; 

 but where there is a choice it U better to plant out first those 

 which have not been disturbed at all, as they will be the most 

 forward, and when this can be done, and the rudest of all 

 shelter is afi'orded them for a little time, it will generally be 

 found better than waiting later. List year we planted out up- 

 wards of three thousand Calceolarias before April 15th, and 

 they did better than those that were later, although they had 

 no assistance nor protection ; fortunately there were no frosts 

 till they had been more than a week out, and the weather was 

 favourable at the time of planting. I have also in former 

 years planted out sooner than this, but it was merely aa an ex- 

 periment, and in general the end of April is early enough ; at 

 the same time, planting out so that the plants may have the 

 benefit of a gentle shower is of more importance to the Cal- 

 ceolaria than to most bedders, and where they are choking 

 each other in the cutting bed delay only increases the evil, and 

 renders them more and more unable to make that effort to 

 grow so much needed by a plant that has to be removed. Of 

 course all coverings are dispensed with late in the season, and, 

 in fact, as soon as the plants show a determination to rush up- 

 wards full exposure must be given, and only on frosty nights 

 are the coverings put on ; at other times they lie heaped one 

 above another over some vacant place in the pit, or if com- 

 pelled to be above plants, their position is changed as often as 

 is required. 



Of the causes which tend to this plant failing, as it often does, 

 much has been written, and certainly there is yet much to 

 learn. It would be a boon to flower gardening if anyone could 

 make the cultivation of the Calceolaria as easy a matter as it 

 was twenty years ago ; at the same time the treatment ought 

 to be very simple, easy of application, and suited to other 

 plants which are often made to occupy the same bed as the 

 Calceolaria ; for a soil specially adapted to this plant, and that 

 will not also do for many others, is next to useless in a great 

 many cases, as some of our most important flower beds con- 

 tain three or four species of plants, and it is very inconvenient, 

 often impossible, to treat one of them differently from the rest. 

 I have little hope of much success in the way above in- 

 dicated ; I have certainly more faith in a judicious selection of 

 varieties suited to the soil and iitaalion, and I believe some 

 good would result from going back to the iirst imported species 

 if it is to be had, for I am not sure that the long narrow-leaved 

 kind often called angustifolia now, is really the original one of 

 that name, neither may the short rugose-leaved kind be true. 

 One of the first of the named varieties was certainly the best 

 I had the past .summer, and next to it was one popular about 

 twenty-five years ago — viz., C. viscossima, while G. Aurea 

 floribunda failed very much ; although I must own that in some 

 seasons this variety has done well, still I think it is about 

 worn out. My practice of late has been to plant two kinds 

 together, and if in a row, alternate plants of a broad and 

 narrow-leaved variety, so that in the event of one failing the 

 other may succeed. In general the dwarfest varieties succeed 

 worst ; they seem to make least progress in growth, and now 

 and then some die off after lingering for a time in a half-dead 



condition ; for, as I have said before, it is seldom any go off 

 suddenly with us (except in the case of the so-called disease), if 

 they once show signs of good health. 



With regard to the character of soil best adapted for the Cal- 

 ceolaria, I am far from being certain that the views I now 

 venture to put forth are correct, but I should say that the 

 plant would seem to enjoy a soil in which lime is plentiful, 

 but to add it to some fertile soils might be very imprudent, on 

 account of its destroying the organic matter, so that I hardly 

 expect to see Calceolarias do well in the places where Golden 

 Geraniums are grown to great perfection. Many years ago I 

 noticed this in some gardens in Staffordshire and elsewhere, 

 about the time that Golden Chain Geranium was first in- 

 troduced in quantity ; the Calceolarias were anything but 

 creditable, and, 1 believe, have become worse since. I should 

 say the absence of lime had something to do with the one plant 

 doing so well, and the other so badly. Of course, season has 

 ■Ml infiuence, but the Calceolaria is rather a gross feeder, liking 

 heat, depth of soil, and moisture, and when the latter is absent 

 snocess is precarious. In my own case the plants generally 

 flower well early in the season — in fact, flower themselves out, 

 no growth taking place owing to the dryness of the early sum- 

 mer, and when rain in sufficient quantity does come, a quick 

 growth is the result, but it is then too late to flower, conse- 

 quently after the second week in August, or so. Calceolaria 

 bloom is far from plentiful. Watering by hand, whether bene- 

 ficial or not (for I have my doubts about it), is out of the 

 qaestion with us, and even if it were of service, water could not 

 be applied to Calceolarias growing by the side of Geraniums 

 without the latter having it also, and probably becoming over- 

 luxnriant. 



I should be glad to fall in with some plan by which the con- 

 stant flowering of this plant could be insured without that 

 special management, which, if not equivalent to its prohibition, 

 is certainly very inconvenient. At the same time we cannot 

 well do without it. No other substitute yet proposed is likely to 

 be so great a favourite ; and if varieties of better constitution 

 are not to be had, would it not be worth while to re-introduce 

 the plant from its native mountains ? and if its re-appearance 

 gave us a few years of its services, as at first, the expense of 

 importing it afresh might not be thrown away. Some years ago 

 I had cuttings from a place one hundred miles off to try what 

 a change would effect, but that was not like introducing the 

 original plant. 



From the above, it will be seen that I attribute the failures 

 we have had here with this plant to the dryness of the season 

 alone, and I imagine that the plant will succeed in places where 

 rain during the early summer months is more plentiful than it 

 usually is with us, provided the soil and other circumstances 

 are favourable. Heat, I also believe, is an essential condition, 

 and it is possibly the deficiency of heat which makes the plant 

 more unwilling to grow near the coast, but control over the 

 seasons is out of the question. The habit of the plant, the 

 brilliancy of colour which its flowers present, and other qualities, 

 make the Calceolaria a plant which we cannot do without, 

 and I hope to see that nncertsiuty which at present hangs over 

 it removed, and the good service that it did in the flower 

 garden twenty years ago resumed. Some good, no doubt, 

 may be done by those who have been hitherto successful with 

 it reporting the character of the soil and other particulars, 

 but I fear those who have had cause to complain of it form 

 the majority. — J. Eoeson. 



PORTRAIT OF MR. RIVERS. 



In addition to subscriptions already announced, the follow- 

 ing have been received : — 



£ 3. d. 

 Coleman, Mr. J. N., Great Mongeham, Deal. .. . 5 

 Kemp, Bev. George, Sevenoaks 1 1 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S 

 SCHEDULE. 



There can be no question as to tlie very varied cbaracter of the 

 prizes offered in connection witli the Society's exhibitions this year, 

 and it wUl not be from want of encouragement if any cultivator in any 

 branch of horticulture do not see something of his favourite hobby 

 this year, while the Show at Nottingham, with its £1000 of prizes, 

 ought to be a great success. There are some features in the new 

 schedale which csiiecially call for remark, particularly that of different 

 nurserymen offering prizes for the jiroductions they have been the 

 moans of introducing amongst us. Mr. W. Paul oS'ers prizes for 



i 



