Plate 156 , 
VARIETIES OE HERBACEOUS CALCEOLARIAS. 
The frequenters of Flower Shows, and the readers of Hor¬ 
ticultural publications in days gone by, will recollect the many 
beautiful varieties of Calceolarias which used, some ten or fif¬ 
teen years ago, to be exhibited when Messrs. Kinghorn, Holmes, 
Green, May, Gaines, and others, used to bring them forward 
laden with bloom, and ever attractive, not only for the bril¬ 
liancy of their colours, but the strangeness of their markings. 
They were then regularly classed amongst florists' flowers, and 
catalogues contained a select list of varieties. 
But these days passed away; it was felt that the difficulty of 
propagating and keeping them was so great that they were not 
worth the time, labour, and expense bestowed on them, so that 
gradually they went out of fashion ; some well-known growers, 
however, still continued to save seed, and improve them both 
in size and brilliancy of colouring. It now seems as if their 
culture, under a different method of treatment, is likely to be¬ 
come again fashionable; and as, notwithstanding the advance 
made in shrubby Calceolarias, the size, beauty, and variety of 
the markings have not been obtained in them which the her¬ 
baceous kinds can produce, we think them a flower eminently 
deserving of being cultivated by those who desire a brilliant 
display at little expense. 
Amongst the most successful hybridizers, Messrs. Hobson and 
Son, of Isleworth, have for some years been noted for the 
very excellent strain of seed which they have obtained; and the 
flowers now figured were selected by our artist from a large 
number which they have bloomed during the course of the 
present year. The plan now generally adopted is to obtain 
from seed-growers seed saved only from their choicest flowers; 
and as they have a character to maintain, a grower will be 
anxious to save only from the best. When the plants have 
