1881 . ] 
GLOXINIA CULTURE 
■“ RUNNING ’’ IN CARNATIONS AND PICOTEE8, 
149 
and when forced in a house with the Royal 
George Peach, it makes an excellent succession 
to that fine old variety, and, moreover, really 
affords a succession in itself. I know of no 
Peach whose ripening period—extending, that 
is, from the time the first fruits are ready for 
table until the last are fit to gather—is so much 
prolonged. When it becomes better known, it 
will certainly be one of the most generally 
appreciated varieties in cultivation.— Henry 
Chilman. 
GLOXINIA CULTURE. 
HE Gloxinia represents a charming 
family of the Gesneraceous order, which, 
like the Acliimenes, is free-blooming, 
and of a highly decorative character. Mr. B. 
S. Williams remarks that the Gloxinias have 
become very numerous and very popular, since 
we have new hybrid varieties with pendulous 
flowers, with erect flowers, and with semi-double 
flowers, and these of almost every shade of 
colour. Of late years a very large number of 
varieties have been brought into cultivation, 
raised from seed, which, if of a good strain, 
produces varieties equal to those grown under 
names. 
The seed should be sown in early spring, in 
well-drained pots that have been half-filled 
with broken potsherds. The soil should be of 
a very fine nature, such as a mixture of peat, 
leaf-mould, and sand. On this, after it has 
been made level by a light pressure, the seeds 
should be laid very thinly, and covered lightly 
with silver sand. If the soil be used somewhat 
moist, it will not be necessary to water it after 
the seed is sown, and it is of great importance 
that the soil be not saturated at any time, but 
simply kept moist. The pots can be slightly 
plunged in a liot-bed, or in a stove, and a piece 
of glass laid over each. When the young plants 
put in an appearance, the glass can be gradu¬ 
ally raised till the plants are sufficiently strong 
to exist w'ithout its protection, but they should 
be guarded from hot gleams of sunshine and 
draughts. When the plants are strong enough 
to be handled without risk of injury, they 
should be pricked off singly into small pots, 
using a light, open compost, made up of peat, 
leaf-mould, and sand, in which the plants 
should be inserted lightly, and after potting be 
kept in a moist, close heat till fully established, 
when they can be placed with other stove 
plants. 
The tubers should be potted in January and 
onwards to secure a succession of bloom. They 
should be shaken perfectly clear of the old 
soil in which they have been kept during the 
winter, and repotted in a compost made up of 
equal parts of fibry loam, coarse peat, and 
sheep’s dung or well-decomposed manure, the 
latter in a dry state, and about one-sixth part 
of silver sand ; sometimes lumps of charcoal 
and charred bones ai’e used exclusively for 
drainage. If the bulbs are large, they may be 
at once placed in the blooming pots ; if small, 
they should be placed in small pots, and as they 
advance shifted into the blooming pots. When 
potted, place the plants in the stove. What 
they require is a slightly humid atmosphere, 
and a fair amount of heat, and when they are 
coming into bloom they can be removed to the 
conservatory. A moist atmosphere is con¬ 
sidered more conducive to their well-being than 
occasional syringings. When the flowering 
season is past, and the growth is nearly finished, 
they may be stood in the open air to ripen well 
before autumn, but must be protected from 
heavy rains ; and when they are quite ripened, 
they must be stored in their pots, in some 
moderately cool, dry place, until again wanted 
for potting.—R. Dean. 
“ RUNNING” IN CARNATIONS 
AND PICOTEES. 
^OW that the blooming season is over, and 
we can look about us a little, will you 
suffer me to give you my year’s experi¬ 
ence on the above-named subject ? In your 
volume for 187G (which ought to be the Carna¬ 
tion and Auricula-grower’s most trusty guide), 
some very valuable and interesting notes on the 
subject were printed, in one of that cherished 
series of articles by the father of Carnation- 
growers, my friend and master, Mr. Dodwell. 
After a perusal of these, it struck me I had 
better use my own judgment as to the exigencies 
of my situation, which is very fresh and open, 
for so near town. I accordingly made a com¬ 
post last July twelvemonth of good mellow 
loam, sharp yellow sand, thoroughly sweet and 
powdered leaf-mould, and well decayed cow- 
manure, in exactly equal proportions. This I 
worried with a fork, whenever I felt lazy, till 
the potting season this year. I drained with, 
first, a concave oyster-shell, then two inches of 
crocks, then a layer of moss, with a few lumps 
of charcoal thrown in. Then I potted firmly 
