454 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 20,1886. 
germinate later, are, as a rule, the most disimilar in 
colour, and of the best quality. I prick out some of the 
freest growing sorts, as well as a portion of the weakest 
ones, and so obtain a greater variety. 
When the plants have formed three or four leaves I 
pot them off into small pots using the same kind of 
compost as before, and place them in a cold frame. 
They are shaded for a few hours in the middle of the 
day, but according to iny experience the Cineraria 
does not require so much shade as it often gets. In 
about three weeks they will be ready for another shift 
into 5-in. pots, and for this and the succeeding shifts, 
there should be added to the soil about one-fourth of 
well decayed cow-manure. The Cineraria is a quick 
rooting plant, and will soon require another shift, that 
is to say, as soon as the roots have reached the sides of 
the pot and through the drainage. The plants should 
not be allowed to become pot-bound until they are in 
their flowering pots, or their growth will be considerably 
checked. To get good healthy plants they should be 
kept growing ; 6-in. or 7-in. pots will be large enough 
for some purposes, but to get good specimen plants 
8-in. or 10-in. pots are the most suitable, as plants in 
this size do not get dry at the roots so quickly as 
they do in smaller pots, and if a plant is once allowed 
to get dry at the roots, and to flag for want of water, it 
will soon be covered with green-fly, and will not make 
nearly so fine specimens as those that are regularly 
attended to. At each watering sufficient should be 
given to wet the soil thoroughly. The Cineraria 
requires plenty of air at all times except in frosty 
weather, and the cooler the temperature in which the 
plants are grown, the dwarfer and more robust will 
they be. In fine weather during July and August the 
plants do well with the lights off altogether with a 
little shade for a few hours during the heat of the day,' 
but if the plants have been grown cool from the first 
they will stand a little sun, and be all the stronger 
and better for it. The plants are also all the better 
for the lights being taken off on fine days during 
September and the first part of October, at the end of 
which month it will be time to take them into the 
greenhouse. A sharp look out must be kept both in 
the frame and greenhouse for green-fly, for which as 
soon as it makes its appearance fumigate with tobacco 
paper. It is important that this should be done at 
the first appearance of the enemy, or it will soon 
damage the plants 
The distinctly coloured varieties offered in some of 
the seedsmen’s catalogues may, as a rule, be relied upon 
to produce a good selection of distinct sorts ; but where 
the plants are raised from offsets, the first thing is to 
select the plants from which they are to be obtained, 
and this should be done while they are in full bloom, 
a label being put to each selected plant with the colour 
of the flower written upon it. The specimens obtained 
by this means are dwarfer, and more compact in habit 
than those raised from seed ; they produce neater and 
more highly finished heads of bloom, and the cultivator 
has the advantage of knowing what the quality and 
colour of the flowers will be. It is the practice with 
some gardeners to grow named sorts of Cinerarias, 
and the following may be named as good and distinct 
kinds :— 
Adam Bede. —Bright rose self. 
Amazon. —Light ground, edged with crimson. 
Blue Beard. —Deep blue. 
Bridesmaid. —White, margined with purple. 
Brilliant. —Bright crimson self. 
Lady Seymour. —White, edged blue. 
Miss Smith. —White, deep edge blue. 
Perfection. —White, carmine edge. 
Queen Victoria. —White, broad margin of crimson. 
Snowflake. —Pure white self. 
Vicar of Caunton. —White gi'ound, with a deep edge 
of rosy crimson. 
As the ripening of the seeds is very exhausting, the 
flowers should be cut off those plants intended to be 
kept for offsets as soon as they are past their best, and 
if there is any green fly on them they should be fumi¬ 
gated. The plants should then be moved to a cold 
frame in which they may remain until the offsets are 
large enough to take from the old plant and to be 
potted off ; or a better way is, I think, to plant them 
out in a shady place where they will throw up plenty 
of offsets ; but before planting them out, they must bo 
thoroughly cleaned or they will not do well. When 
planted out early in June the plants throw up plenty 
of offsets, stronger and better than those old plants 
that have been kept in their pots. When the offsets 
are ready, I dig them up with a fork so as not to break 
the roots, and pot them ; those who have not ground 
to plant them out should remove the lights altogether 
in June, or remove the plants to a shady position out¬ 
side, as passing showers and heavy dews are very 
beneficial to them. As soon as the offsets are large 
enough, as they generally are by the end of July or 
beginning of August, the potting should not be delayed. 
To separate them without loss of roots, turn the plants 
out of the pots, shake away the greater part of the soil, 
divide the offsets and pot them, then put them in a 
cold frame. They will soon fill their pots with roots, 
and must be potted on as advised for seedlings. 
When large specimens are required, three offsets may 
be put into one pot, according to the size of the offsets, 
and these should be shifted on without being separated, 
and be put at the final shift into 10-in. pots. 
Another way of growing the Cineraria, is to prepare’ 
some ground at the end of May in a shady place outside, 
and put a frame over it, then sow the seeds which will 
soon germinate, and as the seedlings advance in size, 
give an abundance of air for a time, and eventually 
take off the lights or remove the frame altogether. 
These will do in the seed bed till they are large enough 
for 5-in. pots, when they should be dug up with a fork 
carefully, and put in pots according to the size of the 
plants or roots, then put in a cold frame and potted 
on as required. They will make good plants for the 
decoration of the conservatory in spring. 
With regard to the general management of the 
Cineraria, I may say that a cold frame is the best place 
for them till the first week in October ; that a sharp 
look out should at all times be kept for green fly ; that 
no more fire heat should be employed than is necessary 
to keep them safe from frost; and that a dry atmosphere 
is very injurious. The water supply must be liberal 
without being excessive, and as the pots in which they 
are to bloom become filled with roots the use of liquid 
manure may be commenced, rather weak at first, and 
applied about once a week, except in the dark dull 
days of November and December when they may not 
want it quite so often ; but when the days begin to 
lengthen, at the end of January and in February, they 
will require it oftener and a little stronger.— James 
Simmonds. 
-- 
THE CULTURE OF ~ 
G-LEICHENIAS. 
The cultivation and management of Gleichenias is 
not generally understood by amateurs, the very opposite 
to the right treatment being given them. In the first 
place, these fine Ferns do not require so much heat as 
is often given to them ; an abundance of air and a cool 
temperature, with slight shade, suits them best after 
the plants become well established. Neither do the 
plants like to be divided too much after they begin to 
make strong rhizomes. If quantity is preferred to 
quality, the plants must be kept continually on the 
move, so that the dividing can be done often. It is 
when in this smaller condition that the plants require 
to be kept a little closer for the sake of making the 
plants establish themselves. If nice specimens are 
required, let the grower obtain healthy young bits of 
the varieties he prefers. These should be potted on at 
once into a good rough mixture of equal parts of fibry 
peat, loam, and leaf-soil, adding plenty of broken 
crocks and sharp sand. This makes a capital mixture 
for the roots and rhizomes to run in, and it is only by 
using such a mixture that the plants seem to thrive well. 
After potting, let the plants be placed in an inter¬ 
mediate house ; but care must be taken to place them 
in a position where they will not get syringed, for 
nothing spoils the fronds of Gleichenias worse than 
syringing, and let them stand upon a stage which has 
some broken brick-rubble or rough ashes on it; this 
keeps the bottom of the pots from getting filled up with 
any fine material. Water this rough bottom occasion¬ 
ally ; this keeps sufficient moisture about the plants. 
If the plants take kindly to this new potting they will 
be ready for another shift about the end of May, using 
the same kind of potting material, only make it still 
rougher as the plants get larger. The plants may now 
be placed in an ordinary greenhouse with a free venti¬ 
lation, still letting them stand upon a rough rubble 
bottom when convenient, and watering this well every 
day during the hot weather ; but on no occasion use 
the syringe. When watering, always give sufficient to 
go through the whole ball of soil, but never water until 
the plants require it; if this treatment is followed out 
they will have made nice plants by August. 
If very large specimens are wanted the plants can have 
another shift any time before the end of September : 
they make new roots into this last shift during the 
winter, and in the following spring are well established 
to make specimen plants. Care must be taken at this 
time to stake the fronds nicely out, so that a free circu¬ 
lation of air can get about them during the winter. 
The fronds of Gleichenias are very useful for cutting 
during the winter months, their fine wiry nature seeming 
well suited for the atmosphere of a room. For exhi¬ 
bition they are superb, and those who have had the 
pleasure of seeing some of the fine specimens that have 
been exhibited at various times, are not likely to forget 
them. The following sorts are all good, and should be 
grown wherever possible :—G. dicarpa, of dwarf habit, 
and a free grower ; G. speluncse, of medium habit, and 
free growth, one of the best for cutting from ; G. flabel- 
lata, medium habit and dark shining fronds, a very fine 
variety ; G. Mendelii, a tall robust grower, and of thick 
texture ; G. rupestris glauceseens, bold habit, the fronds 
being a bright glaucous-green ; G. dichotoma, an old 
and well known variety, always serviceable. All of 
the above six varieties make capital exhibition Ferns.— 
W. G. 
-->*<-- 
SELECT PLANTS FOR ROCKERY 
BORDERS. 
( Concluded from p. 438 .) 
3.— Plants attaining 3 feet high and upwards. 
Aconitum napellus bicolor 
(B) 
,, ,, albus(B) 
,, pyramidale (B) 
,, lycoctonum (B) 
Alstrcemeria aurea (B) 
Anchusa italica 
Anemone japonica hybrida 
,, ,, alba 
Anthericum liliastrum 
major (B) 
Aquilegia californica & vrs. 
,, chrysantha 
,, Skinneri 
,, canadensis 
Aspliodelus ramosus 
Asters or Michaelmas 
Daisies 
Astilbe rivularis 
Bupthalmum salicifolium 
Campanula grandis alba 
,, latifolia macrantlia 
,, pyramidalis 
,, ,, alba 
,, Van Houttei 
Crocosma aurea (B) 
Coreopsis lanceolata 
Delphiniums in great va¬ 
riety 
Dictamnus fraxinella and 
alba 
Eehinops ruthenicus and 
Ritro 
Erigeron speciosum super¬ 
bum 
Eryngium amethystinum 
Gaillardia grandiflora 
,, ,, maxima 
Gladioli in variety (B) 
Gladiolus Saundersi (B) 
Helenium autumnale 
Harpalium rigidum 
Helianthus multiflorus 
rnajus 
,, ,, maximus 
Helianthus multiflorus 
plenus 
Hemerocallis distielia fl. pb 
,, flava 
,, Kwansofl. pi. 
,, ,, fl. pi. fob var. 
Hyacinthus candicans (B) 
Iris siberica in variety 
,, Ktempferi ,, 
,, ochroleuca 
Leueanthemum maximum 
Liliums in endless variety, 
the following include 
some of the best :— 
colchieum, auratum, 
Humboldtii, superbum, 
speciosum and varieties, 
tigrinum and varieties, 
eandidum, Martagon, 
chalcedonicum, parda- 
linurn, Browni, longi- 
florum Wilsoni 
Lobelia cardinalis Queen 
Victoria 
Lychnis chalcedonicafl.pl. 
,, vespertina plena 
Meconopsis nepalense 
,, Wallichi 
Pmonia moutan in variety 
,, sinensis ,, 
Pentstemon barbatus Tor- 
reyi 
,, cobsea 
Phlox decussata in variety 
Pyrethrum uliginosum • 
Pitjwospermum acerinum 
Senecio pulclier 
Spirsea aruncus 
,, palmata 
,, „ elegans 
,, venusta 
Thalictrum acquilegifo- 
lium 
Tritoma uvaria 
,, ,, var. glauceseens. 
In the foregoing lists’ I have cited none but what are 
thoroughly hardy, excepting Tigridias and Gladiolus, 
which require lifting annually ; the Liliums will require 
about one-half peat mixed with the soil, and the same 
remark applies to some of the smaller bulbous plants in 
the first group. The border will be much benefited by 
an annual dressing of manure, well decayed. I have 
chosen for the most part the more showy, and have 
endeavoured to select a long continued season of bloom 
in the plants herein named. Though I have been 
compelled to omit many choice and rare plants, yet I 
think, in the preceding list will be found a good selec¬ 
tion of useful and valuable plants, sufficient in fact to 
make a good beginning, and with plants of compara¬ 
tively easy culture. Thus I hope I may have assisted 
some in a desire to further the cultivation of hardy 
plants generally, in which there is so much pleasure to 
be found.— J. 
