THE FLORIST. 
55 
old cow-dung be used in the compost. In this month the flower- 
stalks begin to appear, and will require the support of a slender 
stick. The plants should be fumigated once a week to destroy the 
green-fly, until the flowers begin to open, when it must not be 
repeated, or the tobacco-smoke will cause the blooms to drop off. 
Let them have all the morning and evening sun, but shade at mid¬ 
day, or the colours of the flowers will be discharged. 
JUNE AND JULY. 
Treat the plants that have not bloomed as directed in the pre¬ 
vious month. The most critical time is after the plants have flowered. 
If allowed to produce seed, they generally die off, nature having 
completed her task; therefore when the blooms begin to fade, cut 
them all off on the stalks, but well up, and above a joint; and re-pot 
into a larger size. Place them in a cold frame facing the east. Keep 
the lights on during the day, and shade; admit air by raising the 
lights at the back. Keep the lights off altogether at night, unless 
in heavy rainy weather; the night-dews are highly beneficial. Treated 
thus, the plants will soon throw new shoots, which must be taken 
off, and pricked out into small pots, in a very open soil, and placed 
in gentle bottom-heat, to strike. When they are rooted, shift them 
into a size larger. About the latter end of October, re-pot them 
into a 4-inch size, with plenty of drainage; and keep them through 
the winter in a cool house varying from 40° to 45°. My foreman 
is a very successful cultivator of Calceolarias; and the above is an 
accurate detail of his practice. 
Nursery, Sudbury, Derbyshire. 
SEEDLING CALCEOLARIAS. 
However pleasing the culture of the Calceolaria, or any other tribe 
of “ Flora’s creation” may be to the florist (and it is so in no small 
degree), that pleasure falls far short of the interesting delights of 
raising seedlings. With what care does he nurse his pets in the 
first stage of their existence; with what care does he watch their 
development into the more mature habit of the parent plant; and 
with what intense interest does he look to the expansion of every 
flower, hoping with the most sanguine expectation for the realisation 
of something bordering on perfection: and hence it is not to be won¬ 
dered at, that every one should look at his own production with 
partial favour, fancying (to use a homely expression) “ his own sheep 
the whitest.” Nurturing this “ favour and affection” for our own 
productions, it is natural to suppose that we should feel a little dis¬ 
appointed when the impartial journalist sometimes pronounces them 
Pretty ; but not in advance of others in the same class.” Perse¬ 
verance, however, will, as the proverb says, “ work wonders” (in 
corroboration of which, none have more abundant proofs than the 
florist); and in due time we may expect our reward. Few plants 
