THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
306 
namely, G.zebrina, a beautiful winter flowering species. 
There are, however, several other species of Gesnera 
that are well worthy of cultivation. We shall devote 
the remainder of our space this week to them. 
Gesnera Merkii is one of the most beautiful of this 
charming family of plants. The flowers are produced 
in terminal spikes, and are of the brightest crimson. 
Individually, they are not quite so large as some, but 
they are produced more numerously. The root or bulb 
is solid, like that of a gloxinia; sending up in the spring, 
when three or four years’ old, several strong shoots, 
which, with good management, will all flower, but they 
will also send forth several weak ones. These ought to 
be rubbed off, and make excellent cuttings when increase 
is desired. But whether used for that purpose or not, 
they must be removed, and only as many left as tbe 
plant is likely to flower to perfection ; the number to be 
proportioned to the size and strength of the bulb. This 
species flowers in autumn, and is then very ornamental 
at a time when flowers are comparatively scarce. For 
the information of such of our readers as may not know 
this species in perfection, we may mention, that we have 
seen a plant of it with six flower-stems, each beaviug 
at one time upwards of fifty opened blossoms, besides 
numerous buds to succeed them. The bulb was seven 
years old, and had flowered well for several seasons 
previously. It requires the same winter treatment as 
the gloxinia : that is, to be gradually dried off, and kept 
in a dormant state till March. 
G. Cooper 'd and its allies, G. Suttonu and G. faucialis, 
are very fine varieties, well worthy of cultivation; but 
they are so very little dissimilar, that it requires a 
very nice discrimination to detect any difference. The 
flowers are of a brighter, or rather lighter, scarlet than 
G. Merkii, and though much larger are by no means so 
numerous. Like that species they are produced at the 
ends of the shoots, generally in pairs when the plants 
are weak, but more numerous if the bulbs are old and 
strong. They require exactly the same treatment as we 
have described above. The season of flowering is much 
earlier than the last-named, thus giving a succession of 
bloom. We have had them in flower so early as May, 
but the general season is from June to the middle of 
July. 
G. splenclens. —This is a fine distinct species, growing 
much higher than any we have yet named. We have 
now one in flower with three flower-stems, each nearly 
three feet high. The colour is a bright light scarlet. 
The flowers are at the ends of the shoots, branching, 
about the size of G. Merkii, and are very numerous on 
each stem. It is one of the most ornamental plants we 
have now in bloom. 
G. bulbosa and G. rutila are two distinct species, now 
very scarce, chiefly on account of the species pueviously 
named being so much handsomer in colour and size of 
bloom; but they are by no means to be despised, as 
when well grown they are very fine objects. 
All the above are similar in habit, have solid bulbs, 
and require to be kept during winter in the same way as 
G. Merkii. They may be easily increased by taking off 
some young shoots, when three inches long, and insert¬ 
ing them in sand, under a bell-glass, in heat. They will 
flower, but not strongly, the second year. 
There is a very curious and handsome variety of G. 
Suttonu, named Sub-alba, the flowers of which are a 
clear flesh-colour. It is very handsome, aud worth 
having. In all other respects it is exactly like G. 
Suttonii: 
Gesnera obhngata. —This species has no bulb, which 
renders it very distinct from the foregoing. It has the 
advantage of producing its flowers in the dreariest 
months of the year, which renders it valuable for winter 
bloom, though its flowers are by no means so bright in 
colour. The plants when well grown form dense bushes, 
[August 15. 1 
from two to three feet high, and as much through. The | 
flowers are very numerous, produced in short bunches ! 
from the axils of the leaves towards the extremities of i 
the stem. They are of a brick-red colour. This plant i 
must be kept moderately moist even when at rest. As j 
soon as they have done flowering, cut them down to 
within a foot of the pot. Place them in a cool house, 
that is, in a heat of 45°, and give them very little water j 
till they begin to grow again. They should then be j 
repotted, frequently stopped to make them bushy, and j 
placed in a close pit till they are wanted in September 
for the stove. Propagated by young shoots in a similar 
manner to the rest of the genus. 
(To be continued.) 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
Pinks are now all gone out of flower for this year. 
The old plants are of little use to the florist, as they j 
seldom produce the second year first-rate bloom, but for | 
ornamenting the border they are valuable. Remove j 
them out of the bed ; trim off all dead flower-stems; and 
plant them in the borders of the garden rather deeper 
than they have been before. They will make fresh 
roots higher up the stems, and form close compact 
bushes, producing the next season abundance of flowers. 
If it is intended to grow Pinks again in the same bed, 
the soil ought to be taken out a foot deep and renewed : 
with fresh loam, and very rotten stable dung, in the j 
proportion of three of the first to one of the latter, 
turning it over frequently to thoroughly mix and ■. 
sweeten it. This should be done immediately, as the 
season for planting will soon be here. 
Pansies. —The early-struck cuttings of these beautiful 
long blooming flowers should in a week or two be 
planted out in the beds where they are to flower next 
year. They love a good loamy soil, enriched moderately 
with rotten leaf-mould or hotbed manure, but not too 
rich, as too strong food will be apt to canker them at the 
time when they ought to produce their bloom in per¬ 
fection. Cuttings just rooted had better be potted to be 
kept in a cold frame through winter. If kept too long 
in the place where they have been put in to strike root, 
they are apt to damp off during the wet autumn months. 
T. Appleby. 
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 
Cabbage. —The season is now approaching when the 
ground must be prepared for tbe cabbage crop. The 
onion ground, which, from the summer surface scari¬ 
fying, is sweet, wholesome, and entirely free from weeds, 
with us generally falls in at a convenient time for being 
succeeded by the early spring cabbage crop. The onion, 
like all other kitchen-garden crops, is cultivated with us 
on sloping banks, and immediately the onions are 
cleared, the ground is liberally manured aud ridge- 
trenched, leaving the soil as rough and open as possible; 
and as soon as the earliest cabbage plants are strong 
enough, the strongest are selected, and a row of them 
planted on each side of the ridge one foot apart. I he 
ridges being two-feet trenches, each plant is left one 
foot apart, which is the space we allow for the early 
small close-growing kinds; for the later and somewhat 
larger growing kinds, we allow from eighteen inches to 
two feet space each way, and fill up the ground with 
strong early growing varieties of coleworts. By planting 
a row of these one foot apart, and another plant also 
between each of the cabbage plants in the rows they 
may be pulled out ns greens, &c., throughout the winter 
and early spring; and by this course ot cropping, with 
good attention to the after management, an immense 
produce may be taken from a moderate sized piece oi 
land. 
