24 STOVE AND GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 



species of Calceolaria are mucli easier to grow than the hybrids, and 

 some of them are very ornamental. C. Bcabiostefolia may be flowered a 

 few weeks from the seedling stage by starving in small pots. It may, 

 however, be grown 3 feet high by shifting when necessary. Seeds may 

 be sown from August to January. Thesoilshould be of an open nature; 

 cow manure and leaf mould should form one-fourth of the mixture. 



CALLISTEMON SPECIOSUS,and one or two other species, make inter- 

 esting flowering plants in early Spring for a cool conservatory. Young 

 plants are gotten up from seed, but they take a longer time to flower 

 than when raised from cuttings; neither are they so free blooming. 

 They may be treated mucti in the same way as Acacias. 



i'XAMELLIA — Some old plants of these relics of the past will occasion- 

 ally be found in old-established greenhouses. They are kept, especially 

 the white varieties, solely for the flowers, which are used in making up 

 designs. In private and public gardens we see them oftener, and 

 in such places they should be more grown, as they are capable of 

 making exceedingly attractive displays during the Winter months. The 

 varieties are perpetuated by cuttings of the ripe growths in late Sum- 

 mer, or by grafting before the growth starts, using stocks of strong- 

 growing kinds, raised from cuttings. Potting is best done after the 

 flowers fall off. Loam two parts, peat or leaf mould one part, and 

 about one-sixth o? the whole, sand, will make a good potting compost. 

 They thrive best with limited root room. 



CANNAS FOR WINTER BLOOniNQ— During Winter these plants 

 respond very readily when anything like fair treatment is given, in the 

 production of large heads of bloom. In fact, in a warm, sunny house, 

 many of the kinds are equally as fine as they are in Summer, and some 

 of them last longer in bloom, owing to theconditions for the production 

 of good flowers being more under^control. The orchid flowered Cannas, 

 that is, those having C. flaccida blood in them, are not well suited for 

 outdoor work, as their flowers are too soft to withstand the glare of 

 the hot sun; but for pot plants in Winter they are useful. The plants 

 may be started in small pots, giving larger ones as growth is made. 

 They are gross feeders, and will take rich soil supplemented by occa- 

 sional waterings with liquid manure. 



CARLUDOVICA — About six species are in common cultivation. They 

 are usually taken for palms, so closely do they resemble some kinds in 

 the foliage; but they are not even related. The one most commonly 

 grown, and perhaps the most useful for the florist, is named C. palmata; 

 in leaf somewhat resembling a Livistona. From the seedling stage they 

 develop rapidly into specimen plants. Old plants flower freely. The 

 seeds are small and thin, about the size of those of Mignonette. Wash 

 carefully from the surrounding pulp and sow in a box of finely chopped 

 sphagnum. They germinate in three weeks. Let them grow in this 

 until large enough to put three round the edge of a 3-inch pot, from 

 these shift into .5-inch pots. With us the plants are useful for planting 

 outside in shaded places in Summer, and if slightly hardened off they 

 may be used in decorating. All the kinds are stove plants. 



