24 
THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 
ever striking and beautiful they may be. Thirty years 
ago the Calceolaria was successfully grown by Messrs. 
Gaines, Holmes, Kingliorn, and others, who sent out 
their new varieties at half-a-guinea, and sometimes a 
guinea each. This system has now long been aban- 
doned, and wisely too, for there was often much trouble 
and anxiety in rearing, owing to the weak constitution of 
some varieties and other causes. With a batch of seed- 
lings no failures need be feared. During the last twenty 
years Messrs. Dobson and Sons, of Isleworth, have made 
the Calceolaria a specialty, and have succeeded in ob- 
taining the principal prizes offered for these charming 
plants. At the Crystal Palace and other London and 
provincial shows, Messrs. Dobson and Sons have for 
some years past afforded such a gorgeous display that it 
is always looked forward to as one of the greatest features 
of the exhibitions. Their collection of plants is always 
marvellous for robust habit, clustered heads of magnifi- 
cent bloom, and well shaped individual flowers. The 
collection at Isleworth, when in flower in June, well re- 
pays a visit. In cultivating the Calceolaria, many fail 
in consequence of growing the plants in too much heat, 
and allowing them to be eaten up with green fly. Two 
things are necessary to insure success, when they will 
grow as freely as possible. In the first place, cleanli- 
ness ; and in the second, a cool temperature (anything 
between 40 and 50 degrees Fahr.) is absolutely neces- 
sary, with light, and not too much sun. The compost 
should consist of two parts friable loam and one part leaf 
mould and silver sand ; and it is well to fumigate with 
tobacco every week, little or much, according to the de- 
predations of the green fly. 
CRINUM PRATENSE CANALICULATUM. 
Amongst seven or eight other Crinums of great beauty, 
we have recently seen a fine collection of the above- 
named species at Mr. W. Bull’s establishment at Chelsea. 
It is a hot-house bulb, with slightly fragrant flowers, 
belonging to a family which is not now sufficiently ap- 
preciated by cultivators, but well worthy of attention. 
It has large ovate bulbs, more than three inches in dia- 
meter, having a thickish cylindrical neck three to four 
inches long, both bulb and neck being covered with a 
dark-brown skin; the leaves are channelled, feet 
long, about an inch wide at the base, gradually narrow- 
ing upwards, and scabrous at the edge ; the scapes, ten 
of which are borne on a bulb of this size, are 15 inches 
high, terminating in an umbel of about a .dozen flowers, 
which issue from between a pair of ovate bracts, and are 
erect while in bud. The perianth has a slender tube, 
4 inches long, pale-green, and a limb of six linear-lan- 
ceolate spreading segments, 2$ inches long, and of a 
blush white colour, so that the flowers are nearly six 
inches across. Opposite each segment is a stamen, the 
filament of which is white at the base, rosy-purple up- 
wards, bearing a versatile anther half an inch long, with 
golden-brown pollen, the style being of the same length 
and colour as the filaments. The flowers are extremely 
elegant, and useful for cutting. It has been introduced 
from India. 
DOUBLE INDIAN PINK. 
We are indebted to Messrs. Wheeler and Son, of Glou- 
cester, for the opportunity of figuring a specimen of their 
choice strain of the above plant. The engraving shows 
the habit of the plant and one bloom natural size. The 
flowers are extremely fine, of the richest colours, very 
double, and most delicately and beautifully marked. 
Mr. William Bull, of Chelsea, has a large house almost 
entirely devoted to new strains of Begonia, some of these 
are exceedingly large and handsome, and most various 
in form and colour. As to size, we measured some of the 
petal-like lobes of the perianth, which gave a length of 
two inches and a width of one inch and a quarter. The 
colours range from white, through yellow and scarlet to 
the most brilliant crimson, and the flowers vary in every 
imaginable direction from narrow to broad. 
