December 18. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 179 
> pots for drainage; then bring the plants out into the 
potting-shed, taking care to expose them as little as 
possible to the cold; turn them out of the pots, and 
shake off gently all the old soil. Take this opportunity 
to cleanse them thoroughly from insects, dirt, dead 
, leaves and roots, but be careful not to injure the living 
roots. Drain the new pots well, covering the drainage 
with a thin layer of moss, to keep it open, by prevent¬ 
ing the soil from being washed down amongst, and so 
choking up the drainage. Then put in the pot a thin 
layer of the compost; and after that place the plant in, 
hold it up with one hand, and arrange the roots equally, 
working in the compost amongst them, gradually bring¬ 
ing it up to the level of the rim of the pot; finish there, 
for these plants do not require to be raised higher. 
As soon as they are potted, bring them into the house, 
set them on the path, and give a good watering to settle 
the soil to the roots. Syringe the leaves, also, to wash 
off any dust or dirt that may be upon them. As soon 
as the water has drained off, place the plants upon the 
stage. They will not require watering again for a month; 
after which time the new shoots and roots will have 
begun to push forth; water will then he required 
regularly all the summer; and when the foliage is 
approaching the full size, the plants will flourish best 
it a large and liberal supply of water be given. Indeed, 
at that particular time if the water be mixed with liquid 
j manure-water to the extent of one gallon to three of 
water, the plants will thrive all the better for it. In 
bright sunny weather let the plants be well shaded from 
1 the sun, and have plenty of air. As they are natives of 
the warmer parts of the South American continent, 
they require a higher temperature whilst growing; the 
I cooler end of the Indian-house will be a good situation 
for them. During very hot weather the syringe may 
be used freely night and morning; but in cool weather, 
while the plants are at rest, the syringing must be 
dispensed with. 
When the summer growth is fully perfected, the water 
must be greatly reduced, but never wholly withheld. 
The leaves of these plants are something like the old 
Bletia Tanlcervillice, and, therefore, perspire a consider¬ 
able quantity of moisture, even through the dark days 
of winter, thus rendering it necessary to water them 
occasionally all the year. It must, however, be given, 
when the plants are at rest, in quantities only sufficient 
to prevent them from flagging. The heat, too, must be 
considerably reduced. Heat in summer, or the season 
of growth, 75° by day, and 65° by night; in winter, or 
the season of rest, 60° by day, and 55° by night. 
In all this there is a great similarity of treatment to 
several other genera of orchids, which is so far well, as 
the operator or manager may so order the season of 
rest to such, as to enable him to bring them all under 
the same roof and regimen. T. Appleby. 
FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 
MR. GLENNY ON FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
THE CINERARIA. 
The “ Properties of Flowers ” is a work which offended 
many old florists, but which has fought its way up until 
| it is the received standard for general censorship; not 
i because it is a sort of dogmatic monitor which has 
found friends among raisers of flowers, but because it is 
founded on principles which carry with them that which 
may occasionally be led, but which cannot be driven, Pub- 
j Lie Opinion. Let us take any one flower as a test. We 
| will begin with The Cineraria, a flower which, when the 
I book was written, had a daisy-like form, with few 
| petals, disposed star-like, with sharp points, plenty of 
j vacancy between them, and, though of many and pretty 
colours, very mean and paltry. However the florists 
may have sneered at the notions, the following were the 
requisites laid down in the book:— 
“ 1. The petals should be thick, broad, blunt, and 
smooth at the ends, closely set, and form a circle without 
much indentation. 
“ 2. The centre or yellow disk should be less than 
one-third of the diameter of the whole flower: in other i 
words, the coloured circle formed by the petals should 
be wider all round than the disk measures across. 
“ 3. The colour should be brilliant, whether shaded or 
self, or if it be a white, it should he very pure. 
“ 4. The trusses of flower should be large, close, and 
even on the surface, the individual flowers standing 
together with their edges touching each other, however 
numerous they may be. 
“ 5. The plant should be dwarf. 
“ 6. The stems strong, and not longer than the width j 
across the foliage; in other words, from the upper sur¬ 
face of the truss of flower to the leaves where the stem 
starts from, should not be a greater distance than from 
one side of the foliage to the other.” 
In these remarks we allude to the plant when in per¬ 
fection, for, as the Cineraria is a constant bloomer, it 
continues to branch and bloom long after its proper 
truss has lost its chief beauty, and its form; the blooms 
are then more distant and straggling, but still beautiful, 
for every little branching truss of flowers will preserve 
the character of the principal one, and the plant look 
well to the last. 
It was quite amusement for what we call plantsmen, 
to ridicule the notion that this star-like flower should 
become round, but we knew well that the broader the 
petals became, the closer they must be together, and that 
when they became broad enough they must form a close 
circle, and if the ends became obtuse they might become 
perfect. We knew the difficulty, and the time it would 
take to produce this desirable form, supposing it to be 
achieved at all; but we knew also that the broader the 
petals became, the richer the flower would be, not in the 
eye of the florist, for we never studied their extraordinary 
notions, but to the common observer, whose taste we 
did study, and the time has arrived when many varieties 
make a respectable approach to a circular outline. 
Petals should be thick, because they last longer. They 
should be smooth in the outline, because they are more 
agreeable to the eye. The yellow disk should be small, 
because it is the least brilliant part of the flower. The 
colour should be brilliant, because they are more strik 1 
ing, and are seen further off. The trusses should be 
large, because the more flower there is and the less 
foliage, the more gorgeous a flower looks, and there can 
be no question as to the general advantage of dwarf 
plants. In fact, there can be good reasons shown why 
the especial peculiarities laid down in “ The Properties of 
Flowers ” are the best for universal adoption. The most 
ignorant persons who love plants will prefer things in 
proportion as they reach the standard laid down. 
The Society for the Promotion of Floriculture in Great \ 
Britain has determined that instead of branch associa¬ 
tions, they will adopt a locality, so that the whole ! 
strength may be concentrated in one place, and meet- [ 
ings are to be held with a view to determine where that i 
place shall be. The trifling nature of the subscription j 
seems to deter some of those who love exclusiveness 
from joining it. The subscription of one shilling per j 
annum, always found sufficient for these purposes, 
admits florists of the most humble pretensions, but 
often of great talent in their way; and there is an aris¬ 
tocracy in even floriculture which is detrimental to the 
science, because they would like the humble but suc¬ 
cessful raisers of seedlings to submit their pretensions 
to the monied followers of the science. But, and we 
say this advisedly, the public may rely most safely on 
