ia 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 13, 1858. 
their chieftain, in right of my being the first person 
who ever undertook, or, rather, succeeded, in improv¬ 
ing the race ; and not only that, hut, also, I was the 
first botanist who furnished the evidence to prove that 
there was no natural bar to hinder the genus Sinningia 
from being united with Gloxinia, and my offspring 
from the union of the supposed two genera is the 
great grandmother of the present race of improved 
Gloxinias. It is true, I did not behave very gallantly 
to that ancient dame, for I once turned her out of 
doors; still, that cannot affect mj r claim to the clan¬ 
ship over her children. The word clan is the Gaelic 
word for children, in the same sense as the Hebrews 
were called the Children of Israel, or the clan of Israel, 
and in that light I am the father of the hybrid and high 
bred Gloxinias. To prove my solicitude for their wel¬ 
fare and respectability, I now write to sing their praise 
in the ears of a new and imposing race of cultivators—• 
that race who do their gardening with the help of one 
little greenhouse, or may be, only a Cucumber-light. 
That they can do so is the nearest-proved experiment, 
and that the most carefully conducted, of all our endea¬ 
vours in the Experimental Garden, to open the eyes of 
our less fortunate fellow-subjects. 
In the first place, let it be distinctly understood, 
that if Mr. Weeks's one-boiler system of heating 
stoves, forcing, and propagating places, were in opera¬ 
tion, I would not avail myself of one inch of the whole 
concern to further the prospect of one single experi¬ 
ment, for this reason—that those who are able and 
willing to go to that expense, ought to be as able and 
willing to keep scientific gardeners of their own, to 
carry on all they may want, or think desirable to have, 
all kinds and degrees of experiments among the rest. 
My experiments are for the use of those who want the 
means, or who, having the means, want the proper 
learning to carry on their gardens with such helps as 
they can hire in their neighbourhood ; therefore, none 
of the usual expedients, called forcing, are resorted to 
in these experiments. We manage a select collection 
of Achimenes, and a very choice assortment of hybrid 
Gloxinias, in the Experimental Garden, without forcing, 
and the way we do them maybe confidently relied on. 
We have them in bloom in the conservatory from 
the end of June to the latter part of September ; but 
they would do in the smallest greenhouse just as well, 
and also in living rooms, where Geraniums are flowered. 
M hen the bloom is nearly over, we keep the pots 
rather dry ; and as the flowers and foliage begin to 
look seedy, we move them out of sight to the top shelf 
along the back wall, close up to the light, and under the 
constant draught of air, in and out, night and day, till 
after the middle of ^November; by that time the soil 
is as dry as Scotch snuff, and the “roots” are as 
thoroughly ripe as if the pots were in an Orchid house. 
After the roots, or tubers, are thus ripened, we have 
proved most conclusively that they will keep all 
through the winter as safely and as long as late Pota¬ 
toes, if they are kept quite dry, and free from frost, 
and from the influence of the air. The whole secret 
for resting Gloxinias and Achimenes for a very long- 
period, or from the fogs of ^November to the April 
showers, is to keep them carefully excluded from the 
air. The simplest way to do that is to shake all the 
soil from them, and to put each kind into a separate 
bag of coarse paper, with its name, or tally, or number 
stick, along with it; the name might also be written 
on the outside of each bag. The mouth-of each bag 
is tied as close as a bladder, and all the bags are put 
loosely into a basket, and the basket is put by in a 
warm closet in-doors. I have grown thousands of 
seedling Gloxinias before there was a hybrid in the 
family, and had my share of them ever since; but I 
confidently assert, that I never had a finer or more 
plump-looking set of “ bulbs,” in all my experience, 
than I saw at the Experimental Garden last week, when 
one set of the Gloxinias were unbagged. 
I have known gardeners to lose them by the dozen 
some years back, and I have had some failures myself 
in my day. I am also of opinion that bagging them 
thus, before the winter, is a more safe way to keep 
them than stowing them away, in their pots, in the 
best hothouses in England. Indeed, I am now sure of 
it ; for there is not a single death, or a speck, or spot 
on all our stock of them, preserved as I have just said ; 
and, I fully believe, every one of our Gloxinias might 
have been kept at rest till the middle of May, but the 
gardener was anxious to have early Cucumbers about 
Good Friday, and I was anxious to try another expe¬ 
riment on the Gloxinias, which, if it succeeds as well 
as that, is about the easiest way of resting them over a 
long winter, and will be valuable for thousands who 
have not yet turned their attention to the cultivation of 
this most beautiful, and most accommodating, tribe of 
showy plants. 
This second experiment, which is now in progress, 
is to see, or find out, if the “ roots ” may not be 
sprouted, as they sprout the early Potatoes before 
planting them for good; that is, without potting them 
in the spring, when every inch of pot room is already 
crammed, and when pots are at the scarcest point. 
Well, to prove that, the Cucumber-bed, a box of three 
wide lights on a dungbed, is lined all round the sides 
with large, strong, healthy-looking tubers, the “ roots ” 
of our Gloxinias. Each “ root ” was merely pressed 
down in the soft leaf mould until the bud or eye was 
level with the surface of the bed, and each “root” 
having its own tally stuck in front of it. Surely 
nothing could be more economical than that; and sure 
enough nothing could look more promising than they 
all do at present, sprouting away as “ stocky ” as a 
stockbroker himself; and I cannot conceive why they 
should not be up at par before they are potted, but 
how much “moulds ” they will take from the Cucum¬ 
bers with their interlacing roots, and what sized pots 
they will require, and must have in consequence, are 
points which my hurry, and impatience to catch the 
market in time, prevent me from clearly indicating at 
present. All the nurseries have them now in very 
small pots, and just started; and it is the right time to 
buy them in for the first time, if one has a Cucumber- 
bed or hotbed to put them in ; or, if not, have nothing 
to do with them till they are in bloom, and then choose 
for yourself, and, pray, just compare your own choice 
with my selection of them. 
I like the upright Gloxinias the best, and everybody 
knows how I like clear and distinct colours and shades 
of colour, and how freely I should cast all plants with 
weak, or faint, or milk-and-water colours to the bottom 
of the Red Sea. Gloxinia fidgens, a German seedling, 
is the highest and richest colour among the gems. 
Eloisa has the largest crimson star on a white ground, 
and a purple throat; and Tarragona the next largest 
and deepest crimson star on a white ground, with a 
paler throat. Eor those who have not seen the new 
strain of Gloxinias, it may be necessary to say, that 
these star-shaped markings on the face of a Gloxinia 
flower may be likened to the horseshoe markings on 
the scarlet Geraniums; and as the horseshoe mark 
follows the shape of the leaf, so do the Gloxinia mark¬ 
ings that of the flower ; and as the limb of these new 
flowers is lobed more or less, the markings run up each 
of the lobes, thus forming a blunt star shape. 
(To be continued.') Beaton. 
New Cineraria. —The name of the close, bushy, very 
striking Cineraria, mentioned at page 5, is Admiral Dundas. 
