■24 STOVE PLANTS. 



these plants a second year, and gives colour to the erroneous 

 notion that they are difficult to manage. Quite the reverse 

 is indeed the case, for nothing can be easier to grow, or be 

 -capable of making a finer display when in bloom, than many 

 of these bulbous and tuberous-rooted plants. If, however, 

 -care is not bestowed upon them after the flowers have 

 faded, it is not reasonable to expect them to be as fine the 

 following season, because after flowering the new growth 

 ha3 to be perfected, and it is upon the healthy development 

 and maturation of that, that the production of flowers mainly 

 depends. 



PEOPAGATION. 



i T would occupy too much space in a handbook like 

 the present, to enter minutely into all the methods 

 which are practised for the increase of various 

 kinds of plants. We will, however, offer a few plain 

 directions, which will enable any growers, if they have the 

 <jonvenience and inclination, to increase some of their 

 favourites. In the first place, a small house should be set 

 apart for this purpose as a propagating pit ; it should be 

 low-roofed, and well heated, and provided with bottom heat 

 and plunging materials. A stock of bell-glasses will also be 

 required, as well as some handlights, for keeping certain 

 kinds very close. Where the collection is small, and a 

 house is not wholly needed for the purpose of propagation, 

 many plants may be increased by putting the cutting pots 

 into a handlight, kept close, and placed at the warmest end 

 of the plant stove, the treatment in other respects being such 

 ■as is directed in this chapter. 



Plants are propagated in various ways, according to their 



