J 94 
THE CINERARIA. 
in sandy soil, they will emit roots in a fortnight, and may then 
be potted, and kept along with the previous lot of young plants. 
If it is designed to raise seedlings, the seed should be sown as 
soon as it is ripe, because then no artificial heat is necessary, 
and stronger plants result than happens when it is employed; 
fill a pan with light rich mould, press the surface moderately firm 
and quite level, distribute the seed equally over it, and cover very 
thinly with clean white sand ; the seed of the Cineraria is in the 
form of minute black grains, and, from its small size, is liable to 
injury if buried more than the thickness of a sixpence; the pan 
may be placed in a cold frame, or beneath a glass, and, if kept 
moist, the young plants will appear in a few days ; let them have 
plenty of air, with shade from strong sun-light, and by the end 
of August they will be in good condition for potting ; place each 
one in a three-inch pot, filled with loam and leaf-mould, lightened 
with sand, if necessary, and station them along with the previously 
obtained plants in some sheltered and shaded place out of doors, 
as at the foot of a north wall, where they will establish them¬ 
selves before the winter. Early in October those which are de¬ 
sired to bloom first should be shifted into larger pots, and taken 
to their winter quarters ; the others may remain a week longer, 
or till danger from frost is to be feared, when they also must be 
taken in doors. No better place can be devised for these plants 
through the winter than a good pit, where they are secure from 
frost, for, though easily injured by it, they are equally impatient 
of heat, and if they can be accommodated with a cool bottom to 
stand on it will be all the better. In January, February, or March, 
according as they are wished to flower, the remainder are to be 
shifted into their blooming-pots, and the size of the plants will be 
exactly in proportion to that of the pots, the larger they are em¬ 
ployed the finer will the plants grow ; the quality of soil also must 
be increased ; a mixture of two parts loam, one part leaf-mould, 
and the other rotten manure, will be found to suit them; and at a 
subsequent period an occasional application of liquid manure will 
give depth of colour and richness to both foliage and flowers. 
While in bloom, Cinerarias require a light airy situation, with a 
temperature averaging about 40°, though they do not refuse the 
higher one of a room, and the only care indispensably necessary 
is a moderate supply of water, and constant attention to the suppres- 
