MAY. 
93 
soot remain for any length of time it may be required, as it will do for several 
tubs of water. About the end of February a little more guano may be used 
in the water; but still it should be used very weak, for the Cineraria is a plant 
that will not stand over-feeding with impunity ; better give it very weak each 
time the plants are watered, than give it too strong at once. About this time, 
also, the flower-buds will appear, and some of the flowering-shoots should be 
drawn down to the pot, and tied to a piece of matting passed round it. This 
will help to bring the plants into suitable form ; and all the time they should 
stand close under the glass, so as almost to touch it. This will keep them 
dwarf. They will require little further attention except watering until they 
begin to flower, when they will require a little tying. At this time, as formerly, 
they will require plenty of room, in order that the foliage may receive full 
light and air, and that each plant may keep its proper form, which, when the 
plants are in full bloom, should be that of a very dwarf bush, presenting a 
regular and slightly convex surface of flower. If well-grown and well-flowered 
in this manner they will do credit to the grower, and form most beautiful 
objects for the conservatory. 
When the young plants are raised from seed instead of offsets, the seed 
should be sown about the end of July or beginning of August. In sowing I 
have at different times adopted various modes, and young plants never failed to 
come up in abundance. Sometimes I have merely raked a place smooth on a 
shady border, sown the seed, pressed it in, and covered with a hand-glass, and, 
there being plenty of room to sow thinly, the plants have come up strong. I 
find this the best way of raising the young plants. At other times I have 
sown in pans, and placed them in shady parts of the greenhouse or pit; at 
others, again, in pots, out of doors, putting pieces of glass over them. In 
either case I have found the seed germinate fast enough without the least 
difficulty. As soon as the young plants are large enough to handle, prick them 
out round pots, but not thickly, taking care that they have plenty of room. 
When they have grown large enough, pot them singly in small pots, and con¬ 
tinue to pot them on as they require it. This will keep them growing freely, 
which is the most essential part of the programme. They will be ready to 
put into their flowering-pots towards the end of November, or about the same 
time as those grown from offsets, so that from the first potting the culture of 
both w r ill be similar; and, as I have described the one, nothing more need be 
said on that point. 
As regards the time of flowering, seedlings may be had in bloom earlier 
than offsets, since the time of flowering will depend on the time they have 
been sown, although this is not invariably the case. If seed is sown in May 
it will not be difficult to have plants in bloom by Christmas, if a great many 
are grown, and they are kept in rather small pots, placed in a greenhouse 
after September, and kept rather close, with no more fire heat than is necessary 
to exclude frost. If sown about midsummer they can be had in bloom in, 
February and March ; but those sown at the beginning of August will flower 
in May, if kept in a free-growing state all the autumn, and cool during the 
winter. This also applies to plants grown from offsets, which are not easily 
got into early blooming except by keeping them in small pots. Any attempt 
to hurry them into flower is apt to bring thrips, green fly, and red spider, and 
the last is sure to appear if much fire heat is used. Green fly will generally 
attack the Cineraria when it is about coming into bloom, supposing the plants 
to have been kept growing freely while young ; but it may be destroyed at any 
time by fumigating. When thrips or red spider attacks the Cineraria there is 
something wrong about the plants, and they will never do well, although the 
former may be destroyed by smoking, and the latter by sulphur. Fire heat I 
