December 1. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
161 
lieat and moisture to send out plenty of shoots and 
roots. The less the means for protection, the later in 
the spring should the growing processes take place. 
There is yet a better mode for those who have any 
glass, say a two-light cucumber-box, or any amount of 
glass in a cold pit, at liberty. 1 adopted it last season, 
and 1 did not lose one out of a hundred, though many 
hundreds were thus saved. 1 feel convinced, that when 
the superiority of such plants for blooming freely over 
j young plants struck during last summer and autumn,- 
and the less than a tithe of the trouble, in com- 
j parison with young plants, which they involve, as the 
latter must be picked, and aired, and watered, while the 
former will need a very minimum of attention, and may, 
while in their dormant state, he squeezed pretty well as 
closely as a bundle of sticks, and may be placed in little 
room; I feel convinced, that when all this is known, 
fewer Scarlet Geraniums will he consigned to the 
rubbish heap. 
For this plan, we arrange and prepare the plants 
exactly as detailed above, leaving not a single leaf 
on, and taking away all the greenest points of the 
shoots, and well peppering these cut points with lime. 
Plants, after two years from the cutting, when growing 
out-oi-doors, are apt to become too unwieldy. While 
the plants are thus being prepared, the pit or bed is 
made ready for their reception—a small heap of dung 
and leaves has been previously thrown together, so as to 
get a brisk heat, and yet entail a small amount of de¬ 
composition. Eight to twelve inches thick of this 
material was spread quickly along the bottom of the pit, 
aud, to prevent the heat it contained getting into the 
atmosphere at once, a thickness of about four inches of 
dry sandy earth was quickly spread over it. This earth 
had been kept dry in a rude shed on purpose. A small 
quantity of this earth is scraped back at one end, on 
this a row of plants is placed as thick as they can stand, 
earth is placed over aud among their roots; another 
row, as thick and close to the other as the stems can be 
made to interlace or press together, is proceeded with in 
a similar manner, until the space or the quantity is 
finished. Now, the minutiae here are ol importance. 
If we had placed the roots in soil at the bottom at once 
there would have been a chance of damp injuring them; 
and if exposed to much sun the tops would break before 
there were roots to support them. If wet, moist dung 
had been used, the same dangers from damp would have 
followed ; if too much of it, the plants would have been 
prematurely excited, and then we should have had to 
keep the plants in a growing state all the winter. The 
small quantity used, and that in rather a fresh state, kept 
the roots from a damp bottom, and just presented a 
sufficient stimulus to call out some fresh fibres; the 
lower part of the soil was moistened by the moisture j 
rising from the fermenting matter while the surface-soil I 
was dry, and thus, so far as the moisture in the atmos- 
phere would admit, insuring a dry air among the steins. 
When all was finished, a little more dry earth, contain¬ 
ing a little lime and charcoal dust, was thrown all over 
them, and, with the exception of opening the sashes for 
a little air in fine sunny days, and two or three times a 
mere dusting of water from the syringe, and protection 
from frost, they gave no more trouble during the winter, 
not having received a drop of water at the roots. For 
from three to four months these plants were kept so 
cool aud dry that they presented to the uninitiated a 
mere mass of dead branches. As the sun gained 
strength in March they began to break all over into 
leaf; and by April, at farthest, it became necessary to 
thin them ; potting some, and after putting a good 
handful of earth about the roots of others, wrapping 
each separately in a handful of moss. These were 
placed in the best conveniences comeatable—houses, 
pits, all sorts of covers—and got turned-out, moss and 
all, about the middle of May; a few, from their size, 
making an appearance in a bed at once. We have 
preserved all the older variegated and Ivy-leaved kinds 
in a similar manner; but they enjoy a slightly higher 
temperature than the older Scarlets; and while in cold 
pits the atmosphere requires to be equally dry, the 
roots must have more moisture given them; in other 
words, they will require watering several times during 
the winter. In their case, likewise, however, it will be 
generally found, that the old plants bloom more pro- 
fusely than the young ones. 
LARGE PLANTS OF SHRUBBY CALCEOLARIAS 
IN POTS. 
“ I saw a number of showy plants of yellow Calceo¬ 
larias in the large conservatory of the Horticultural 
Society. When 1 attempt to grow some on in pots, 
they will always get shabby." Just so; the plants 
delight in plenty of moisture and comparative coolness 
j at the roots. They will not long endure a scorching 
j sun upon a red pot. In this coldish, wet autumn, 
! we have never seen tho Yellow Calceolarias more 
1 beautiful, indorsing all that has been said in this work 
] of the climate they naturally enjoy. Now, by carefully 
1 lifting some of the nicest plants from the beds, potting 
j them, and keeping them in a cold pit, or in a cool 
greenhouse, nice plants in bloom may be obtained from 
April to July. Rut the best mode is to strike a pot of 
: cuttings late in May, and in June plant them out in an 
j open, rich border, aud lift the plants carefully, and pot 
* them in Octobcv. 
SHRUBBY CALCEOLARIA CUTTINGS. 
“ I put in these at the end of September and the 
beginning of October, but they are not yet all struck. 
Shall I give them artificial heat to hasten the process?” 
Better not to any extent; they must have time in au¬ 
tumn. Our own, on a north border, under some old 
sashes, are not yet all struck, but they are quite healthy, 
and sure to be all right, if left long enough alone. 
From the day they were inserted, and watered, and 
covered, they have had nothing done to them, until 
about a week ago some grass that had taken leave to 
grow was extracted, and during several of these frosty 
nights a little litter has been thrown over the glass. 
The old sashes being rather open, and the weather 
having proved rather dull and wet, neither air-giving, 
nor shading, nor watering, has ever troubled them. 
Moss was growing between the thick-set plants, all 
beaded, even in the afternoon, with dew-drops, and the 
Calceolarias seemed rather to enjoy it. In our excessive 
kindness in giving these plants heat aud dryness, we 
have insured, as has already been demonstrated, a sickly 
vegetation and abundance of insects. Were I under 
the necessity of having large plants of these in bloom 
early in summer, in greenhouses, I would keep the pots 
as much as possible from the sun, by shading, or plung¬ 
ing them, either in soil, moss, &c.; expose the plant to 
all the light it could get, and plenty of air, when¬ 
ever the temperature was a few degrees above freezing; 
and whenever water was wanted, using that liquid in 
a cool state, and not only at the roots, but literally 
all over the foliage. The same low temperature, 
moisture, and freedom from a stagnant atmosphere, are 
the essentials requisite for cuttings and young plants in 
autumn. When, at times, any of them do damp or 
mould off, this is less the result of mere moisture than 
a stagnant atmosphere loaded with malaria. At the 
request of many who have been unfortunate with these 
ornaments — without which now our flower-gardens 
would be blank indeed—I have reverted to these simple 
matters. Many have asked if I kept such young plants 
in such a ricketty concern all the winter? This I have 
not yet done, as in severe weather I should want so 
