498 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Decamber 2, 1S86. 
Pelargoniums. As a rule tubers are rather liable to suffer from damp iu 
winter, and this is the first thing to guard against. Some are in the 
habit of watering them after the foliage is quite gone, but this is a mistake, 
as the roots are not at work then, and moisture causes them to decay. As 
soon as the foliage is dead watering must cease in all cases, and a dry 
atmosphere and a dry soil should be their surroundings then and after¬ 
wards. 
Gloxinias when in full leaf and bloom appear as if any drying off 
would kill them, but few plants enjoy complete rest in winter more, and 
they should always be dried off. They need not be kept in the pots in 
which they have been growing unless there is plenty of space for them, 
and then do not allow them to stand up in the usual way, but lay them on 
their sides under a stage or in a shed, and keep them in this position with¬ 
out water until February or March. So long as frost and damp is kept 
from them there is no danger of failure, but the most economical way of 
treating them is to turn them all out of the pots and pack them in shallow 
boxes for the winter. Any kind of box will do. A few leaves may be 
spread on the bottom, then a layer of sand, after which the tubers should 
be laid in as close as they can to each other, and then cover with more 
sand. Two or three dozen pots may be placed into one or two boxes in 
this way, and the tubers will keep well in them. It does not matter very 
much where they are placed so long as they are not frosted or excited 
into growth prematurely by heat. 
Few plants are more showy in summer than Caladiums. A dozen 
or two of them will fill the glass houses or embellish the rooms in a very 
pleasing manner from May until October, and yet they might all be 
kept in a hat box from November until March ; but Caladium tubers are 
very apt to perish in winter, and we have known many failures with 
them at this season, but that was mainly caused by the soil in which 
they were growing being watered too freely after the leaves had died. 
Watering should decrease as the leaves fide, and by the time the 
last of them have died the soil should be dust dry, then there is little 
danger of failure. It will never do, however, to allow the plants 
the chance of their being watered by accident or in any way during 
the winter months, and as soon as the foliage is gone they should be 
laid on their sides, not to be lifted again until it is time to restart them 
into growth. They will not keep well in a low temperature, and it is 
not safe to put them anywhere where the heat is less than 55° or 60°. 
Some may think this would soon induce them to grow again, bat it will 
not so long as they are kept dry at the root. We have kept them fre¬ 
quently all winter in the pots, and to economise space we have often 
turned them out of the pots, shaken every particle of soil from the tubers, 
and stored in sand, and they all remained plump and healthy until 
the following spring. There is not any better way of treating them 
than this, and we recommend it above all others. They may be put one 
on the top of another, but this is not such a good way as placing them in 
a single layer with the crowns facing up, and covered with about 2 inches 
of sand. 
Tuberous Begonias now form an extensive collection in many 
gardens, and it would be a difficult matter to find room for them all in 
winter if they were in pots, but they succeed admirably plunged in sand. 
Choice named varieties may be put in a single layer in a shallow box, 
but those which have been growing in the flower beds may be stored 
in casks like American Apples, only they must have some dry sind 
between them, and care must be taken that damp does not reach them 
when stored in quantity in this way. 
Achimenes have curious little roots, and never fail to keep well plunged 
in dry sand. 
The Calanthes may also be included amongst these plant?, and when 
the flower spikes have been cut from these the pseudo-bulbs should be 
kept perfectly dry until March. They may be kept in the pots by laying 
them down on their sides in a dry place, or the pseudo-bulbs may be 
drawn up, the soil shaken from the roots, and placed together in a box or 
basket without any covering over. They may then be kept like Onions or 
Apples, and a case of perishing amongst them will be very rare. The 
Gesneras may be treated like the Gloxinias, and lhey are benefited by a 
long and complete rest.— J. Muir, Mar gam. 
FLOWERS IN WINTER. 
There are two methods of treating winter-flowering plants, 
one of which may he said to be good and the other better. In 
addition to these there is also a bad system too much in vogue 
during the duller months of the year. I shall have something to 
say as to each of these, and will take first the good method. It 
may be called the system of conservation—the conservation of 
winter gardening. Thus we find a group of Richardias standing 
in some cool structure in waiting to be forced into flower at some 
particular date, under the mistaken idea that a few spathes at 
one set time is all the plants are capable of producing in the 
course of the twelvemonth. Then there are cultivators who turn 
out winter Pelargoniums when these have produced one set of 
trusses, the sole treatment of the plant while in bloom being one 
of conservation. As they bring on Bouvardias and Carnations 
in batches pinch the trusses out of double Primulas till a given 
time arrives when they are allowed to throw up their flowers. 
And in respect of temperatures, keep these at the lowest possible 
degree, while watering is pursued on the plan of giving just as 
much as will keep the plants in good condition. 
The second and better method may be called that of pro¬ 
gression. Instead of keeping to the minimum heat, sufficient is 
allowed, not only to conserve flowers, but also to keep the plant® 
in vigorous growth, so that a continued succession of flowers is 
to be had from the same plants. This treatment necessitates the 
further difference of allowing the plants sufficient water in order 
to produce a continued succession of healthy roots to meet the 
demands made by new growth and flowers Then it will be 
further found that a regular supply of manurial dressings will be 
an absolute necessity to keep the plants in vigorous health. 
Possibly those who see clearly the necessity of increasing the 
supply of water, and occasional doses of manure, will demur to 
that part of the treatment which renders these necessary—viz., a 
higher temperature than the plants will keep healthy under. 
But it may be pointed out that plants grown under glass, espe- 
cally when it is impossible to give them fresh air, require 
aisomewhat greater average of heat artificially in order to pro- 
d uce such results as are here stated. Of course very much de¬ 
pends on the kind of structure in which plants are grown. Those 
which are light will do with less artificial heat; but even under 
the best conditions there is a great drawback in the matter of de¬ 
flected light. As bearing on this point, moat people who have to 
do with these matters must have noticed how well plants grown 
out of doors succeed as compared with those under glass. As in¬ 
stances of what is here meant it may be said that we repeatedly 
have Pelargoniums producing trusses out of doors in November, 
when at the same time a semi-stove treatment is required for the 
same class of plants flowering in pots. Chrysanthemums, a& 
another instance, will be found to come on more rapidly out of 
doors than they will under glass, referring to late-flowering 
plants here. The same remark applies to Richardias, Eupa- 
toriums, &c., which so long as they are kept from frost will come 
on as well out of doors as they will under greenhouse treatment- 
But in carrying out a progressive system, so that a continued 
supply of fresh flowers is produced on softwooded plants, it is 
necessary to cut the flowers as they become fully open. This is 
an absolute necessity. Proof of the flower-producing tendency 
induced by cutting all newly developed flowers may be found in 
the case of hardy herbaceous plants, many of which if left to 
themselves bear only one crop of bloom, whereas if cut they con¬ 
tinue right on as long as the weather permits, throwing up fresh 
crops of flowers. 
The bad system consists of extremes. Too much artificial 
heat in relation to light will induce growth alone without flower, 
and that is a wasteful method. On the other hand, it too often 
occurs, owing to a policy of shortsighted money-saving, that 
plants are treated to the very lowest temperature they will stand 
during the winter months. Thus we find bedding Pelargoniums 
and other plants which stand the treatment even worse kept in a 
condition of absolute stagnation. Primulas, decorative Pelar¬ 
goniums, young Chrysanthemums, Mignonette, &c., are kept 
much too cool. It is only possible to do justice to all of these by 
keeping them in a suitable temperature. The difference in the 
temperature need not be much, nor is the expense perhaps of any 
great account, while the result is all in favour of a growing 
condition 
A word of caution may be added as to wintering hardy plants, 
for in the case of these it occurs that much mischief may be done 
by keeping them too closely shut up in weather when they would 
be much better in the open air. Thus Violas, Carnations, 
Auriculas, &c., should be grown entirely in the open, using the 
sashes merely to keep out frost and wet. Calceolarias which 
may be rooted should have the same treatment, but if not 
rooted they are much better kept close until roots are formed in 
early spring.—B. 
JESCHYNANTHUSES. 
Gesneriaceous plants are some of the most brilliant ornaments of 
our stoves, the majority of them producing very gaily coloured flowers in 
abundance, and these seem even more attractive in comparison with the 
rich diversity of foliage which Palms, Crotons, Dra-seoas, Alocasits, and 
innumerable others present. Gesneiias, Tydteas, Gloxinias, Achimenes, 
and Streptocarpus include many handsome plants of great value not only 
for the stove but for cooler houses also, though the majority are more at 
home in a rather high temperature. 
Tim genus ASscbyDanthus, to which especial attention is now called, 
similarly comprises several species of much beauty, part cularly as basket 
plants, for which their epiphytal and peniulous habit well fils them, and 
in gardens where they are carefully grown no better plants tor that 
purpose could be desired. The rich scarlet and orange shades distinguish- 
ing their flowers are unrivalled, and the blooms, bein' produced in laige 
trusses or clustered closely along the stems, have a very imposing appear- 
snee when pendulous from elegant baskets near the path of a stove. They 
are not more difficult cf management than many other epiphytal plants; 
tut it is no use attempting their culture in any hcu-:e where a high acd 
