May 13. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
101 
Tho result of this extra labour and attention is the 
production of such fine specimens as we see on the 
j exhibition tables. Such being the case, we feel that a 
I few slight hints on the ways and means of doing so 
I likewise, will be useful to such of our readers as may be 
j desirous to excel in stove plant culture. 
Gesneras. — Supposing the cultivator has a small 
I plant or bulb of such plants as G. Cooperii, G. faucialis, 
or G. Merkii, early in the spring, this bulb should 
have all the old soil shaken from it, the dead roots all 
cut oil', and then be repotted in the light rich compost 
described some time ago in The Cottage Gardener. 
It should be placed in a gentle heat, and kept just 
moist enough to excite growth. If only one shoot is 
produced, it should be stopped when an inch or two in 
j height, leaving a pair of leaves only on it. At the base 
of these two leaves there are buds, and these buds will 
■ soon break and produce two more shoots when these have 
i grown two leaves each ; then repot the plant into a pot 
! two sizes larger, and tie out the two shoots a little distance 
I from each other. Nurse the plant carefully with water, 
| but do not deluge it, and place it as near the glass as 
may be safe from cold. When a third pair of leaves 
are produced, nip out again the buds at the top of the 
two shoots, and allow two more shoots to each to grow, 
till each has two more leaves upon it; then, repot again 
into a pot two sizes larger; this will be a sufficient shift 
for the first season, and the plant so grown will produce 
four spikes of fine bloom. If the bulbs are larger, they 
may probably send forth four or five shoots; then repot, 
tie them out, nip off the tops, and by that moans double 
the number of flower spikes. The great point is to 
keep the plants from flowering by inducing free growth, 
fine foliage, and numerous shoots, before the flower 
spikes are allowed to appear. The larger the bulbs (and 
they will become larger every year), the greater the 
strength and number of the flower-shoots will be pro¬ 
duced. Hence, if there is no hurry for bloom, it will be 
desirable to prevent them flowering at all till the bulbs 
are sufficiently strong to produce a fair number of 
flowering shoots. 
Gloxinias. —To produce specimens of these fine 
plants, something like the same process must be followed 
as that described above for their kindred, the Gesneras. 
In one particular point a difference should be observed; 
that is, syringing. Perhaps there are no plants that 
ought to have their leaves kept more moist than Gloxi¬ 
nias. We have syringed them three or four times a day 
with the greatest success and most perfect safety. The 
leaves prevent too much water penetrating to the roots, 
or this excessive watering with the syringe would be in¬ 
jurious instead of beneficial. In Gloxinia culture, when 
the bulbs are tolerably large, the number of shoots sent 
up are in greater quantity than in tho case or example 
above mentioned of the gesneras. Hence it is necessary 
to thin them with an unsparing hand; the strongest 
plant should not have more than five or six of these 
shoots left on it to bear flowers; those left should be 
tied out almost horizontally, leaving out one or two in 
the centre to fill up the vacancy. When the plants are 
in flower the syringing must of necessity he discon¬ 
tinued, or else it will injure the bloom. 
Sinningia guttata. —This, when well grown, is a truly 
beautiful object. It has bright green leaves, and flowers 
of the purest white, spotted with crimson or red, hence 
its second name, which means spotted. Treat this fine 
old fellow kindly, and in a similar manner to the 
Gesneras and Gloxinias, and he will repay you well. 
T. Appleby. 
FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 
J. S. B.—The Cineraria is not worth keeping; petals 
scattered, notched, and common in colour. The Fancy 
Geranium good. Upper petals maroon, edged with 
white; lower petals white, with maroon edge. Of course 
wo can say nothing of the plant’s habit, as we merely 
saw a single truss. 
CULTURE OF ROSES IN POTS FOR 
EXHIBITION. 
( Continued from page 87.) 
Training. —Though a rose-bush may appear, when 
seen growing in the border, an unmanageable thing to 
bring into a pleasing form, yet, in pots, it is more under 
control, and may in a great measure be so managed as 
to give it a well-balanced shape. There are two or three 
modes by which this may be effected, each mode depend¬ 
ing upon the habit of the different varieties. These 
modes may be described as the bush, the pyramidal, and 
the twining methods. 
The Bush. —This mode of training is applicable to such 
varieties as are naturally low growers, with short, rather 
stiff, shoots. Some of the perpetuals, liybrid-perpetuals, 
moss, and China’s, look well trained as a low bush. To 
keep them in this form, and at the same time to prevent 
the branches from crowding each other, it is necessary 
to thin out as they grow all weak and very strong shoots. 
The weak ones would very likely not flower, and the 
over-strong shoots would rob the rest of that strength 
necessary to bring forth fine blooms. When these arc 
removed, place short sticks, painted a light green, to 
each of those left on the bush. Arrange them so as to 
give them a neat appearance, and leave them so thin as 
to give room for the heads of flowers to expand, yet, so 
thick as when they are in bloom each bush should be 
well furnished with flowering shoots. This requires 
forethought to be exercised at the commencement of the 
operation of training. The sticks are a necessary evil; 
but when the shoots have advanced so far as tho appear¬ 
ance of the buds, they will become set, as it were, in tho 
desired position, and then the supports may be removed, 
or they may remain till the day of exhibition, to steady 
the blooms during the transit from the house to the ex¬ 
hibition tent. 
The Pyramidal. —By far the greater number of roses 
should be trained by this method. No plant, grown in 
a pot, has such an imposing, almost regal appearance, 
as a rose-tree trained as a pyramid, and covered with its 
large richly-coloured, deliciously-perfumed blossoms, and 
bright shining green foliage. The method to be followed 
in order to produce a handsome pyramidal rose-tree in a 
pot, is simple, and consequently easy. Place a stoutish 
stick close to tho central stem ; if there is not one already, 
the strongest, as near the centre as possible, should bo 
tied to the stake, and the rest brought down to an hori¬ 
zontal position. This may bo done either with very 
short sticks placed round the pot at regular intervals, or 
each side-shoot may be hooked down with hooked sticks, 
or, what is better, a wire fastened round the pot just 
under the rim, so tight that it will not slip over the pot 
edge. The lowest shoots as they grow should be gently 
tied with twisted small pieces of garden-mat to this wire, 
then the next tier of branches should be brought down 
and tied to the lowest tier, and so on, till every tier of 
branches are tied, so as to form the pyramid, the centre 
shoot forming the summit. The shoots all round the 
centre should be as much as possible equidistant, so that 
all sides are furnished alike. It may be necessary, when 
some of the varieties may produce strong, over-bearing 
shoots in any particular part of the plant, under this 
mode of discipline, to remove such, and also weak, puny 
shoots. Both these kinds of shoots arc useless, and inju¬ 
rious to the general well-doing of the flower-bearing 
branches. Tho leading shoot should have the extreme 
end shortened in, to cause side-shoots to be produced, 
