44 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[March, 
the better. They should be somewhat hard¬ 
ened olf while in the seed pots or pans before 
being pricked off into store pans or boxes, and 
when they are about an inch high six or so 
should be put into a 4^-inch pot, placing the 
leaves close down to the soil; they are to be 
placed into a heat of 60° or 70°, and kept very 
moist. As soon as the plants have made four 
leaves they should be potted singly into 2^- 
inch pots, with the leaves close down on to 
the soil, as before recommended; then again 
placed in a temperature of 60° to 70°, and 
advantage gradually taken of sunshine in 
spring to shut up the house close with sun on 
them. As soon as the pots are filled with 
roots the plants should be placed in a frame 
where the heat is turned off by day, and by 
the beginning of April they should be shifted 
into 42-sized pots, using a little heavier soil; 
then stood close together in a moderately w'arm 
frame, shaded from too much sunshine, and 
occasionally sprinkled overhead. As the plants 
become established some will be found to grow 
stronger than others, and the foremost plants 
should be placed by themselves and have a 
cooler treatment, but still giving a little 
warmth as required. The first week in May 
the foremost plants should be stood on an ash 
bottom in a cold frame, a foot apart, shaded 
carefully from the sun, exposed to genial 
showers, and protected from winds, but lights 
should be placed over them at night. The 
best position for this cold frame is under a 
hedge facing the sun, and if the night promises 
to be cold a mat should be laid over the frame 
to supply the necessary protection. When 
what is termed “ Blackthorn winter ” is over, 
and genial growing show'ers fall, then the 
plants should be put out in gi’ound that has 
been deeply dug or trenched three months 
previously, and thrown up loosely for thorough 
aeration, and, it is scarcely necessary to add, 
in a warm and sheltered spot. 
The after-culture of the plants is not less 
important. The first crop of flowers should 
be encouraged to bear fruit, for these will form 
the foundation of the crop, so that as soon as 
flowers appear, all shoots and leaves that cover 
them should be removed, and after the fruit are 
set more leaves and side shoots will need to be 
cut awajn The plants should be kept closely 
tied up to 3 feet or 4 feet stakes, wdiich should 
be put into the ground directly after planting, 
and when they reach the top of the stakes the 
top of the plants should be removed, with so 
much of the shoots as to leave little more than 
the main stem, a few leaves, and the fruit, 
thereby divesting the plants of all surplus 
growth and laterals. 
Mulching at the roots must on no account 
be attempted, as this only adds to growth, 
which is not required. If the plants are fed 
too much the fruit are apt to crack. When plant¬ 
ing out the plants should be placed as near 
tLe surface of the soil as possible ; and it is 
found that frequent surface hoeings, carefully 
done of course, add much to root action. 
Under such a system of culture as that laid 
flown Tomatos may be had in the open air 
from about the second week in August until 
the middle of October, provided the weather is 
at all favourable. The earliest fruit at Read¬ 
ing was gathered on August 12. Should the 
w’eather prove treacherous in early autumn the 
stems of the plants can be cut off, and the 
partly ripened fruit finished off by hanging 
them up in some suitable warm place, where 
it can colour and become fit for table.—R. D. 
{Gardeners' Chronicle.) 
DIEFFENBACHIA CARDERI. 
S his is one of a series of very fine orna¬ 
mental-leaved stove plants belonging to 
the genus Diefenhachia which have 
been introduced during the last few 
years by Mr. W. Bull, of Chelsea. They are 
plants of bold and striking habit, with the 
broad dark green leaves beautifully blotched 
or mottled or striped with white, silvery-grey, 
or yellowish-green ; and any one of them may 
be accepted as a welcome addition to a col¬ 
lection in which it does not already exist. 
D. Carderi, of which a woodcut is here 
given, is a very handsome form of the genus. 
It has oblong-ovate leaves, spreading or at 
length becoming somewhat deflexed, the 
ground colour of a rich dark green, boldly 
blotched and obliquely banded with white. 
The ground colour and the variegation are in 
this case about equally balanced, and the 
result is to render the plant exceedingly strik¬ 
ing and attractive. It has won a first-class 
Certificate from the Royal Botanic Society. 
Of other kinds of Dieffenhachia from the 
same source, there are D. rex and D. amtena. 
