CALCEOLARIAS— SPECIMEN PLANT. 



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with and a little air admitted to the frame or hand-lights. The tiny seedlings are liable 

 to damp off, especially if crowded or watered in a reckless manner. On the first signs 

 of damping, lift out small patches of plants with the point of a label and replant just as 

 they are in pans of fresh soil, keeping them in a close frame or hand-light till large 

 enough to divide for transplanting. "Where there are no signs of damping, they must 

 be pricked out long before they are large enough to be moved with the fingers. Insert 

 them from 1 to 2 inches apart in pans or boxes filled with a mixture of sandy 

 loam and leaf soil lightly 

 surfaced with sand. Give 

 a gentle watering and keep 

 the frame to which the 

 young plants are returned 

 somewhat close, shading 

 them from bright sunshine. 



When the plants nearly 

 touch each other, place 

 them singly in 3 -inch pots, 

 and arrange them near the 

 glass in a frame, keeping 

 this close for a week, after- 

 wards admitting air more 

 freely for promoting sturdy 

 growth. The more forward 

 may be shifted into 5-inch 

 pots before the winter, but 

 the majority may be kept 

 in the smaller size. Late in October, remove the plants to a shelf in a cool greenhouse 

 or to a position near the glass in a low plant pit from which frost can be excluded. 

 Excessive heat or dry surroundings are most injurious and sometimes fatal to calceola- 

 rias ; a temperature ranging from 40° to 50°, slightly lower rather than higher, is 

 suitable, and the plants must not suffer from dryness at the roots or in the atmosphere. 



Late in January or before the pots become crowded with roots, some of the more 

 forward of the plants may need more root room. Those in 5-inch pots would require 

 to be moved into others two or three sizes larger, later and smaller into G-inch pots. 



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