310 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 23. 
carefully it should he sown; the pot covered with a 
square of glass, and then set in a cool, shady place while 
the plants are up, when, as soon as they can be handled, 
they must he pricked otf, or there will be damping, to a 
certainty. The herbaceous kinds will not bloom con¬ 
tinuously like the shrubby ones. The reason why the 
latter do so well when planted out in summer, and so 
poorly in pots, is, that in the former case the roots are 
kept cooler and moister. 
Cinerarias. —By sowing these at intervals, from June 
to October, you may have flowering plants from No¬ 
vember to July. Lists of the best kinds have lately 
been given. For good sorts, to blow early in winter, 
suckers should be taken otf, or plants divided in August; 
successioned ones in September and October; and bits 
slipped off in January, February, aud March, will keep 
plants on to July. If kept in 5-inch pots or so, there 
is a certainty that the flower-stems will soon appear. 
Like the Calceolaria, it is easily injured by frost; but 
that being secured against, it delights in alowish, moist 
temperature. In winter, an average of 40° at night is 
quite sufficient. Whenever it gets a high temperature 
hosts of insects assail it. In rooms, its chief safety 
consists in frequent sponging and damping of the leaves, 
to neutralise the dryness of the atmosphere. 
Chinese Primroses. —Sow in April, May, and June, 
and you may have plants blowing in 4-inch pots from | 
November to May. The great thing in winter is to 
water so carefully as to keep the collar of the plants 
dry, or it is likely to gangrene and rot off. The seed- 
pot should be covered with a square of glass, and the 
plants pricked off as soon as they get three or four 
small leaves. The double Chinese Primrose is propa¬ 
gated by slipping off or dividing a plant into pieces, 
and inserting them as cuttings in a pot, and plunging ! 
it in a hot-bed, as for Cucumbers. It would want a ! 
good warm place in the greenhouse in summer, and j 
every flower-stem nipped out as it appeared; then it 
would be a nice window-plant in November and i 
December. 
Cactus. —The treatment has often been given. Water j 
freely when in bloom, and pretty freely afterwards ! 
while growth is making. Get them to a sunny place I 
as soon in the end of August as possible, and by the ] 
middle of September curtail water, and keep almost j 
dust-dry during winter. As the Truncatus flowers so | 
nicely in the winter months, it must be kept growing j 
after it has done flowering ; bo got into as sunny a spot 
in the house as possible in spring; get a warm spot 
out-of doors in July ; keep water from it, without allow¬ 
ing it to shrivel in September and the first part of 
October; and when housed, and a little water given, it 
will begin to blow about the end of November. For 
summer display in windows, the various-coloured Me- 
sembryanthemums are very beautiful, and cost little 
trouble. 
Chrysanthemums. — These have very lately been 
alluded to. Geraniums have also received due atten¬ 
tion. Fuchsias ditto, and will be presently alluded to. 
Gladioli, the’early summer-flowering kinds, should be 
potted rather deeply in autumn ; the late-flowering kinds 
in spring. Half-a-dozen of small-rooted kinds may be 
placed in a six-inch pot, and from one to three of the 
large ones. 
Lilium speciosum, &c.—Keep in rather a dry state in 
winter, in a cellar, or anywhere free from much frost. 
In spring, repot or top-dress. Keep under shelter until 
June, aud then place out-of-doors, and take in-doors to 
bloom in autumn. 
Mignonette, fpr the purposes indicated, sow thinly in 
four or five-inch pots in August and September. 
Mush. —Many like to have this in winter and spring, 
and for this purpose the plants are best when inured to 
the process gradually. When the earliest pots die down 
they should be placed aside, and kept in rather a dry 
state. These should be started earlier next season by 
watering with water about 70°, and when the young 
shoots appear, they may either be divided and potted, or 
receive some rich top-dressing. When growing, the 
plant dearly loves moisture. 
Violets. —The general favourite. The Tree is hardier 
than the Neapolitan, and, therefore, for the first winter 
months, most suited to a window. The Tree is merely 
an artificial form, obtained by training the stem upright, 
instead of letting it grow in its natural prostrate state. 
For great quantities of flowers, I prefer letting the 
plants grow naturally. The easiest mode for getting 
nice little flowering plauts is to divide the plants that 
have done flowering in April and May into nice little 
pieces, well supplied with roots; prepare a piece of 
ground with a good sunny aspect, dig it, and pulverise 
it well, and enrich it with very decayed dung and leaf- 
mould, and in this insert your little plants firmly, some 
eight inches separate; water and shade until the plauts 
are freely growing, theu remove, shade, prevent weeds 
growing, keep the ground stirred, and cut away all 
runners, and by the middle of September you will have 
nice compact little plants, worthy of filling as many pots 
as you can find room for, taking the plants carefully up 
with balls, trundling some light, rich soil round them, 
and giving a little shade until they root afresh, when 
they may stand under shelter until moved to the green¬ 
house or window. 
General bints as to the management of window- 
plants were introduced in a late article on Watering 
Plants in Winter. The great things are — keeping the 
foliage thoroughly clean, by sponging and washing, and 
preventing the atmosphere around them becoming too 
dry in winter from the fire ef the room. Covering the 
pots with moss just kept moist would tend to pre¬ 
vent this. Would “Flora” desire a combination of 
luxuriance and neatness, then I would advise showing 
no pots in her window; but have a box, or vase, of the 
suitable size, aud so as to be movable to suit the weather; 
and, in this artistic-looking box, all the necessary pots 
would he concealed, by plunging in, and covering them 
over with moss. This would also enable her to em¬ 
bellish the sides of the box with many pretty trailers, 
such as Nemophila, Lobelia, Verbena, Anagallis, &c. 
These could be grown in small pots, the balls then 
wrapped in moss, plunged in water a few minutes, and 
then the moss-covered ball inserted in any corner were 
there was room for it; and be easily moved whenever a 
change of the main plants was desirable. 
There are rather full directions given on window¬ 
gardening, in Vol. V., p. 227, and 242; in Vol. VI., 
p. 71; and in Vol. VIII., p. 20. R. Fisn. 
IMPATIENS JERDONLE. 
(Mrs. Jordon's Balsam.) 
I have lately seen some specimens of this lovely plant 
in blossom, and was so much pleased with the fact that 
it flowers for at least nine months in the year, that I 
determined to write a short essay about it, and recom¬ 
mend it to the readers of The Cottage Gardener. 
Every now and then, amongst a batch of new plants, 
there may be one, or perhaps two, that are real acqui¬ 
sitions to our collections. Such an one, for instance, is 
the Dielytra spectahilis, and Philesia buxifolia ; and now 
I can safely say the lmpatiens Jerdonice is another. 
The three grand properties that render a plant worthy 
of great cultivation, are—good habit, free blooming, and 
easy culture Now the plant I am drawing attention to 
has good habit, that is, it is of moderate growth, seldom 
exceeding one foot in height; it branches freely, so as to 
form, with slight assistance, a dense bush as wide as it is 
