203 
January S. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
GERANIUMS NOT FLOWERING. 
“I liave some Unique and Scarlet Geraniums which were 
late, and did not tlower much out-of-doors. When I took 
them up in November they showed knots of buds ; but in a 
pit, and afterwards in the cold greenhouse, never above 40°, 
where my Heaths are, they did not blossom well. May I 
hope for flowers if 1 put them in tlie stove from 58° to 70°, 
or will tliey droop and die ?— Amateur. ’ 
[The temperature was too cold to open the flowers of Gera¬ 
niums well. If well I'ooted, they will bloom at from 4.5° to 
50° at night, vith a rise of several degrees from sunshine. 
Do not place them in a stove from 58° to 70°, as that will 
be as much the other way, though, in our practice, we have 
found a Scarlet Geranium a most pliant thing, keeping at 
05°, and not getting drawn in spring and summer, when it 
had plenty of light at hotbed and stove heat.] 
I CULTURE OF COLEUS BLUMEI. 
j “ I had a Coleus Rhmsc'i, whicli, being too straggling in the 
I autumn, I cut back, and struck the cuttings. They made nice 
J young plants, apparently,and I was much disappointed,jwhen, 
j after being potted off and housed in November, they gradually 
began to dwindle and rot off. Out of twenty-four, I have 
not above four left, .and these are rotting off' in the stems. 
But this is not the worst, for the old plant is turning black 
in the stems, and large pieces, if not the whole plant, look 
as if going to rot off Can you tell me what ails the plant, I 
and how to save it ? The Coleus has been kept in a plant- I 
house from 55° to 70°.—A Lady.” 
[Your young phants of Coleus Blumci have been struck toi ^ 
late, and so have not got sufficient strength of stem to resist i 
the effects of dark, cold, damp weather. The old plant will 
die because it has been cut down too late, and has not had 
heat and light enough to cause it to make a fresh growth, and 
to heal up the wounds the knife made in cutting it down. 
No plant is easier to grow if properly managed. Cuttings 
should he struck in April, and grown in a brisk heat, with 
plenty of moisture in the aii’, using rich soil, but not too 
large pots. The ends of the shoots should be nipped off 
frequently, to cause the plants to branch out to form com¬ 
pact bushes. It is a fleshy, soft-wooded plant, and is very 
impatient of the knife and cold, and also wet dropping upon 
the leaves. In your ease, all we can advise you is to place 
your young plants near the glass in the warmest part of 
your stove, give very moderate supplies of water during the 
short days, and wlien spring comes, repot them and grow 
them on. You can evidently strike them, and, tliereforc put 
in the tops when you pot the plants, and you will soon have 
a good stock. Old plants are not worth keeping, so do not 
fret because your old one is dying. A plant struck in April 
may be grown the same year to a great size, by frequent re¬ 
potting and plenty of heat and moisture.] 
CULTURE OF ClIEILANTHES LENDIGERA.—WAR- 
DIAN-CASES.—ORNAMENTAL GRASSES. 
“AVill you be so good as to say if the Cheiinn flies k'ud'ujcm 
j Fern will do in a Wardian-case in a room where there is a 
I fire every day? Since I have put it in it does not look so 
' well. Mill you be so good as to say 4he best way to grow 
i it ? and if it will do in the case for the winter, as I have only 
.a cold greenhouse to keep it in ? I observe you generally 
condemn AYardian-cases, and I have now, for two years, 
kept several Ferns and Lycopods, looking Avell and healthy, 
in a case; and if Mr. Appleby would, tlierefore, give your j 
subscribers jin article on the best way of managing Wardian- ' 
cases, I am sure I, and many more of your subscribers, 
would be much obliged to him; for my case is admired by 
all my friends, even by those that are not admirers of Ferns. 
AVill you allow me to recommend to your readers two Grasses 
that are i)retty—the Aijrostis pulcheUa and Ero(jrasUs 
eleijans. If they are well grown, I am sure they will not fail 
I to be admired.—F. Fern.” I 
I [Cheilauf/ics lend!(/era in a native of the hottest parts of ' 
j South America, and, therefore, it requires the heat of the j 
I stove to keep it evergreen all the year, yet it may be hardy ' 
enough to live through the winter in a AVardian-case, situated 
as yours is, in a vvarm room; but then you may expect that 
it will not be evergreen but deciduous. It is such a deli¬ 
cate jilant, and so expensive, that cultivators have been 
fearful of tiying experiments with it to prove whether it 
will live through the winter in a quiescent state. Should 
you venture it through this winter in your case, and it 
should exist and come up fresh and lively in the spring, 
you would do a service to Fern growers to send us a report 
of your success. 
You are quite mistaken in saying that we generally con¬ 
demn Wnrdian-eases. On the contrary, we think them very 
interesting and even useful in rooms, especially as afford¬ 
ing a recreation and amusement to many a suffering in¬ 
valid. AVhatever has even a momentary effect of drawing 
attention, for even a short space of time, from pain and sick¬ 
ness, is worthy of the care of the friends of persons so 
afflicted. The management of AYardian-cases has been 
frequently described in our ]mges in answer to correspond- 
J euts, which Avhich you mvxsl have overlooked. It is true, 
I we have discouraged planting them with many kinds of 
' plants, for this simple reason, that such phants will not 
exist long in such airless structures. Ferns and Lycopods, 
such as you cultivate, are the only tribes of plants that 
will live long in AA^ardian-cases. AVe thank you for recom¬ 
mending to our readers the two Grasses you name. There 
are many others of the Grass tribe that are equally beau¬ 
tiful, but, the apetalous non-coloured flowers of the whole 
tribe will always render them objectionable as oimamental 
plants for the flower-garden. Grass plants have not the 
beautiful foliage of Ferns to compensate for their want of 
rich-coloured blossoms.] 
LISTS OF FLOAVERS IN SEASON. 
“ I have been gratified this morning, in common, I have no 
doubt, with many more of your subscribers, by reading an 
article in 'fnE Cottage Gardener, upon the subject of 
“ Tender ITants Blooming in December,” a subject Avhich I 
ventured to suggest to your consideration some weeks ago. 
“ Your readers, I am sure, are much indebted to Mr. 
Fish for this commencement, and I confess that I am more 
sanguine than he appears to be as to the extent of interest 
I and instruction such lists will command and convey. The 
! addition of the concise hints he is kind enough to give 
I upon the culture and treatment of the plants is very accept- 
j able. Blany readers, who might shrink, perhaps, from the 
trouble of scanning through the foiirteen volumes of The 
Cottage Gardener, for the valuable information therein 
contained upon the several points they desire to know— 
—though I do not say tlieir zeal oiu/ht so to flag—will be 
able to turn to these lists, and see Avhat they want in a 
short compass; and I venture to advise them to do Avhat 
I intend to do myself,—keep a tabular list of what is to bo 
i done by them, according to their means, and tlio plants 
' they wish to growq in order to provide themselves with a 
j succession of bloom in the several months. Thus c.y., 
; taking the paper now before me, set down under Morcit, 
I “ Strike Begonia fuchsioides cuttings for winter bloom- 
i ing,” Ac. 
j .“I sincerely hope that Air. Fi.sh will continue to publisli, 
i as often as xiossible, similar lists, that an amateur may be | 
I getting up a stock for the time to come.— An Old CoRiiES- 
■ rONDENT.” 
j [The idea of taking notes of the worlc that should be 
done at one time, to secure future display, is an admirable 
one, and we hope it will be acted uxion. AA'e shall then 
labour with more protit.] 
HEATING A BOILER BY GAS. 
“ My greenhouse feiglitcen feet by twelve feet) is heated 
by two-and-a-half inch liot-water jiipes, flow and return, 
connected to a saddle boiler, which has the furnace-door 
outside the greenhouse. Could the same apparatus be 
used with gas? I should very much prefer it,because , being 
my own stoker, gardener, &c., I should be less likely to get 
cold mysell', as also to give my iflants cold.—L. R. fj.” 
