THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 2, 
! 104 
get enough of seed. The best sorts of the Scldzcvntliuses 
are retusus, Hookeri, porrigens, and some garden 
varieties, such as Priestii. 
Cineraria. —The treatment of this has frequently 
been given. I confine myself, at present, to raising 
them from seeds. A shilling packet, from a respectable 
tradesman, who grows good kinds, such as those ad¬ 
vertising in these columns, will give you a fin'e supply. 
J would advise sowing at three times— now, the beginning 
of August, and the middle of September. Prick out the 
present sowing, as soon as they are up, into pans, a | 
couple of inches apart, and then, when getting close to- I 
gether, pot them singly, or plant them out in rich, sandy j 
soil in a north border. The last will involve least 
labour. By the middle of September, raise them care¬ 
fully with balls, and pot them, and keep them in a shady 
place until they are again growing freely. These will 
generally supply you with plenty of bloom from the end 
of October to the new year. The second sowing, pricked 
out and grown on in pots, will succeed these. A six- 
inch pot will grow fine flowering plants. The third 
sown, kept thickly in pans or pots, shifted singly after 
the new year, and shifted again, will succeed the second 
sowing, and thus give you bloom from this interesting 
tribe alone until the end of June. A few sown in 
spring would continue the whole season with one tribe; 
i but unless you have a very shady place, they stand a 
Midsummer sun so badly, that at that season they are 
scarcely worth the labour of keeping them healthy and ! 
clean. Here, fine heads of bloom, just as in the case 
previously alluded to, depends on securing fine, healthy 
growth before the flower-stems appear. This is one of 
the most accommodating plants, as whenever there is 
healthy growth, and the roots get to the sides of the pot, 
the flower-stems are sure to appear. No matting of 
roots must be allowed if you wish a fine large specimen. 
! Eor room decoration, these plants, from seed, are in¬ 
valuable. Nice beads of bloom can be easily obtained 
in four-inch pots; and one other advantage is, that j 
these, when in bloom, may be turned out of their pots, 
and packed firmly in moss or earth, in baskets or vases, i 
without sustaining injury. When an ornamental vase 
is to be thus filled, it is desirable to have a vessel inside 
of it, of zinc, and moveable; and it will generally be 
found that three or four small healthy plants turned out 
into it will make a better show than one large one. 
But in this case, seedlings cannot be so well adapted as 
plants raised from cuttings or suckers, so as to secure 
one uniform colour. The soil for the last potting should 
be rich and light, containing a fair portion of pure sand 
and leaf mould. I have, however, grown fine specimens 
in roadside soil alone. Whenever the flower-stalks ap 
pear, weak manure-water may be freely given. 
Chinese Primula. —This is one of the best of our 
winter-flowering plants, when the temperature does not 
often fall below 45°. Eor this purpose, the pink and 
white varieties cannot be sown too soon. If you could 
give them the assistance of a cucumber-bed until they 
were up, they would like it all the better. As soon as 
you can get hold of the seedlings, prick them out into 
shallow pans LY-inch apart, or in pots, three parts filled 
with drainage, and in sandy soil, with a little very fine 
leaf mould or peat. Keep these in a warm, rather shady 
position in the greenhouse. As soon as the foliage 
meets, transfer three of these plants, at equal distances, 
to the sides of a four or five-inch pot; and when these 
meet again, pot them singly. A five or six-inch pot 
will grow a fine plant. In the warm days of duly and 
August the plants must be shaded. If they arc placed 
on boards on the north side of a wall or fence they will 
do very well. By the middle of October, they may 
obtain an intermediate position, as respects light, either 
out of the house, or in it. By November, they will take 
all they can get, and will present you during the winter 
with plenty of bloom. Another sowing, made in August 
or September, kept in a small state during the winter, 
and potted off’ in February or March, will yield nice 
blooming plants in the early part of summer. But 
after May, if a continuance of their bloom is desirable, 
they must have a cool, shady situation. 
Herbaceous Calceolarias. — Shrubby ones, when 
obtained, are generally continued by slip propagation. 
The large blooming, herbaceous, and semi-shrubby 
kinds are easiest managed from seeds. There is a little 
difficulty in preserving even a fine variety, more espe¬ 
cially if allowed to bloom as it likes. When a mass 
of rich bloom, instead of the tests and criterions of 
floristry, is the object aimed at, then sowing seed is the 
way to secure economy and variety. A shilling packet 
would be sufficient to supply a small house, but if from 
an extra fine stock, I would advise giving half-a-crown, 
though the seeds might all lie on the point of a pen. 
Even from that small quantity you may obtain hun¬ 
dreds of plants. The seed is so small, that you had 
better re-read wliat was said about sowing them lately. 
I think that here, also, without offence, I may just 
give a hint to seedsmen, not to mix small seeds with 
anything else, as thus the inexperienced are apt to 
imagine that they have not got the article at all! I 
recollect, that the first sowing I made of these her¬ 
baceous Calceolarias, I had the seed presented by a 
great gardener, and also an outline of their culture. 
I sowed it with great care ; and, as it vegetated 
nicely, I was feasting my eyes already on their beauty ; 
but, as the seedlings got larger, they seemed to get 
stranger and stranger every day, until it turned out 
that they were nothing but small Lobelias, of which 
then I had previously a superabundance. No more 
attention, therefore, was given them, though it is 
likely enough, if 1 had pulled out all these Lobelias, 
I might have found Calceolarias after all. Now, con¬ 
sidering the hands through which seeds sometimes 
pass, and the likeness in size of the dust-like seed of the 
Lobelia to the Calceolaria, I easily saw how this might 
happen, and my friend have not the least idea of the 
matter. It is rather singular, that from a small packet 
obtained last autumn, from a most respectable establish¬ 
ment, I obtained plenty of Calceolarias, but a great 
many more small Lobelias. The soil in which they 
were sown was all fresh, and I recollect, perfectly, that 
I was sowing no other seeds of any kind at the time. 
However these things aro brought about, they often 
constitute a great discouragement to young begiuners, 
and often a complete disappointment. 
Seed to be obtained now will be of last year's saving ; 
but that will be of less consequence, as if it is good it 
may be kept for years. If you wait for the present 
year’s seed, you would not be able to get it before July. 
If you had it now, it would not bo advisable to sow 
more than the smallest portion, as the plants would not 
bloom until rather late in the autumn, and they would 
require a very cool situation during the summer. The 
season in which such plants arc most effective for dis¬ 
play is from the last days of March to the middle of 
June; after that time they must be kept more cool and 
shaded. For this purpose, I recommend two sowings ; 
the first to bo made in the second or third week in July ; 
the second in the second or third week in September. 
The first sowing must be made in a cool, shady place. 
As soon as the plants are handable they should be 
pricked out into pans, and these again kept shaded, 
and each plant may have its small pot by the beginning 
of October. These should bo kept slowly growing until 
Christmas, after that they will want a shift, and a more 
warm and close position. By the end of February they 
should receive their final shift; a six-inch pot will grow 
a nice plant. 
The great point, as with the Cineraria, is not to stunt 
