THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
315 
TREATMENT OF CINERARIAS. 
OMMON as these plants are, yet few manage them well. 
We too often see tall drawn-up plants, instead of dwarf 
bushes. Propagation is easily effected by dividing the 
young offsets from the old plants, and potting into 
small sized pots ; but cuttings are preferable, which 
should be put in about the end of June, and placed in a cold frame ; 
or, select seed from the best varieties, sow early in the spring, in 
wide-mouthed pots or pans, and place them where they may receive 
a gentle bottom-heat ; and when the seeds have germinated, and the 
rough leaves are making their appearance, move them carefully 
into small sized pots and continue them in a gentle heat, until the 
weather will permit them to be removed to a frame. Let their 
position be close to the glass — kept shaded and free from air for a 
few days ; after which give a little air, gradually increasing it until 
they become comparatively hardened, so that, alter a short period, 
air may be given without engendering any disorder in the plants. 
Water should be applied moderately, just enough to keep them 
moist. Never by any means allow them to become thoroughly dry, 
for the insufficiency of water is the sole cause of that destructive 
fungus called mildew, which gradually increases, until the plants 
get into an unhealthy state, and become next to useless. Then how 
important it is to be on the watch for this insidious foe ; for preven- 
tion is better than cure, and it is much easier to expel the disease 
on its first approach than when it has been permitted to ruin the 
plant. Three things have come under my observation as regards 
excluding this encroaching fungus. First, by admitting a free cir- 
culation of air, which should be regularly attended to every day, 
shutting it off at night. Secondly, as before stated, by attending 
carefully to the watering. Thirdly, by removing the dead foliage 
from them, which is also a harbour for green-fly. By adopting the 
above treatment, I have successfully kept this destructive parasite 
iu check. If green-fly appears, with which they are very apt to be 
infested, fumigate with tobacco. The plants should now require a 
shift into a larger sized pot, and let the following compost be used : 
turfy peat, fibry loam, leaf-mould, decomposed cow-dung, and drift- 
sand, equal parts of each, beaten roughly together, mixing in a little 
silver sand. Prepare a six-inch sized pot, with a good drainage, 
over which place a thin layer of turfy peat, to prevent the soil from 
intermixing with the sherds. Repot, and again place them in the 
frame. Water moderately, and the admittance of a good current of 
air will also have a good effect on them. Let all possible care be 
taken not to have the roots coiled amd cramped by their coming in 
contact with the side of the pot, which is generally the case after 
subsisting in the same pot too long. Then, as soon as the roots are 
penetrating through the soil, let the plant be again repotted into a 
larger sized pot, using the aforesaid admixture, and be replaced in 
the same position as before described, keeping them thoroughly 
clear from aphides by occasionally fumigating. By this time they 
October. 
