4G2 
THE CINERARIA. 
hut not wet, they will thrive well in the open 
air. It is nol desirable to grow seedlings 
large antil you sec what they arc, because 
they require bo much more room to winter; 
but if room he bo object, they will be mate- 
rially strengthened by shifting them to pots a 
sue larger, called forty-eights (four inches 
and a half over the top.) As soon as the roots 
begin to mat on the sides of the first pots, 
the plants will be double the size, and much 
more handsome for the change. About Sep- 
tember, if they have been out of doors, prepare 
a garden frame or pit for their reception. The 
ground on which they stand ought to be im- 
pervious to wet, which, when they are watered, 
should run off, and not soak into the ground ; 
for this reason, ashes, gravel, and sand are all 
bad ; they retain the moisture, and throw up a 
damp exhalation, which causes various evils; 
damping many off, and rendering all un- 
healthy. A paved bottom, laid on a slope, 
(whether it be stones, tiles, slates, or cement,) 
is the best ; place them here with every pro- 
vision for covering them well against frost 
and excessive w r et, with the glass lights, and 
for giving them all the air in mild open wea- 
ther. Upon the least appearance of the enemy, 
they must be fumigated. In the establish- 
ments where there are green-houses, they 
may be submitted to that, but taking care 
that they are on shelves near the glass, and 
where they have plenty of air when the 
house is open. In the early spring months 
they will begin to bloom, and you will soon 
see which are worth propagating, and which 
are not. If you find any without the notch at 
the end, this is one point gained. If you see 
any with petals manifestly wider than the 
average, even if it has the notch, there is a 
point gained. If you find any whose petals 
are wider at the end than in the middle, they 
indicate improvement in an important point ; 
for, as will be seen by the diagram, the petal 
in a really well-made sort will be so, and 
every approach among seedlings is good. 
Some, indeed, notwithstanding our aversion to 
narrow petals, may be of the most scarce and 
brilliant colours with all the bad qualities of 
the flower about them ; but still colour is a 
point gained, and therefore, when very beauti- 
ful, must be selected; not, however, that all of 
those selected may be worthy of naming and 
adding to collections. They may be only desi- 
rable for some one point or other to be placed 
among the varieties from which you are going 
to save seed, These should be put together 
in some place by themselves as soon as they 
are selected. The best way is to get a one- 
light box, which should be placed full south, 
to get the sun, and the pots plunged. Here 
they may have all the sun while the glass is 
off, but none while they are covered. As soon 
as the weather is good, remove the glasses 
altogether. But as these flowers are blooming, 
before this would be safe, you must cover of 
nights, and great frost and excessive rains; 
but allow all the air you can in mild days. 
Here they will perfect seed, which, as it 
ripens, must be gathered, dried, and stored, 
for spring sowing again. In the mean time, 
any that are considered good enough to pro- 
pagate and name, should be marked and 
labelled. 
PROPAGATION FROM CUTTINGS. 
After the bloom has perfected itself, and 
decayed, cut down the stems, stir the earth 
upon the surface, and throw out the loose 
portion, then earth it up with fresh compost 
of the same kind, filling the pot rather full 
than otherwise ; refresh them with a little 
water, and place them in the frame again ; or, 
if you have none convenient, in a dry and 
sheltered place in the garden. The growth 
of a few weeks will enable you to detect side 
shoots, some with roots, and some without 
roots, and leave only the main plant in the 
pot, which should be earthed up again, and 
set by. The shoots which have no roots to 
them should be stripped of two or three of the 
bottom leaves, that they may be placed in a pot 
of the same sort of compost that the plant may 
have been growing in, with a little sand at top, 
say a quarter of an inch thick, and covered 
with a bell glass ; or, if there be enough, they 
may be placed, a dozen or two in a large pan, and 
a glass, that will fit inside the rim, covered over 
them. They must never be allowed to dry. The 
glasses should be occasionally wiped dry inside. 
Whether there be one cutting or a dozen, they 
should be so placed that the glass can be 
pressed into the sand to keep out the air until 
they have all struck. They can always be 
watered without disturbing the glass, if it be 
properly placed inside the rim, because, by 
watering over the glass, the whole can be 
soaked ; but the drainage must be good, or 
they will not thrive. If you happen to have 
a declining hot-bed in which there remains a 
little bottom heat, the pan or pots may be 
placed therein. It will rather hasten the 
striking. Those side shoots which have roots 
to them, may be immediately potted into sixty- 
sized pots, and heated the same as seedlings 
just potted off. In a few weeks the cuttings 
will have struck, which will be indicated by 
their beginning to grow ; they may be potted 
off also, as seedlings are potted, in sixty-sized 
pots. Here the treatment is just the same as 
that directed for seedlings. If they are re- 
quired to grow strong, they may be shifted as 
soon as the roots begin to mat on the side of 
the pots. The uses of the Cineraria are nu- 
merous; they make a beautiful clump plant, if 
