July 9, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
709 
plants ; then cover with paper, etc., the same as the 
box is lined with, bringing the side papers over on 
top of this again, which, when the lid is nailed on 
tight makes a very close, warm covering. Before 
the covering is put on, and with the last plant put in 
the box, be sure a label with the name of the variety 
plainly written on it is placed with this plant. 
Where several varieties have to be packed in the 
same box, each and every variety should be dis¬ 
tinctly labelled, and a sheet of paper differing in 
colour to the general packing paper placed over the 
last variety packed before commencing with another. 
I prefer a sheet of newspaper doubled for this 
purpose, allowing it to overlap considerable of the 
last sort placed in the box, which clearly indicates to 
the person unpacking them that there is a division 
intended here. 
As soon as all danger of frost is passed, this lining 
of paper, etc., can be reduced, and in warm weather 
is better dispensed with altogether. For very long 
distances in extremely cold weather, it is advisable 
to put an inch of dry sawdust all around the outside 
of the paper lining, or rather, between it and the 
box : this will effectually stop any frost from getting 
in the box. But when packing plants this way, 
never have a bud or bloom on the plants or they 
may get moved out of the box long before they reach 
their destination, and oftentimes the plant as well as 
the bloom. This means losing the whole package 
aud lots of trouble all around. If necessary to ship 
plants in bloom, then the whole must be protected. 
Shipping plants by freight, particularly for long 
distances, is not advisable excepting for large plants 
that have been previously somewhat hardened off to 
enable them to stand for one to two weeks without 
water, and even then they often suffer more damage 
than the cost per express would have been. 
-- 
GLOXINIAS. 
Select strains of Gloxinia are now so plentiful and 
so good, as by comparison with what existed but a 
few years ago, that the practice of specially naming 
varieties is gradually going out of date, and as in 
the case of the Cineraria and some other popular and 
greatly improved flowers, we shall soon know them 
by name no longer. At the present time the floral 
committee is most chary in granting certificates to 
died off I store the tubers away in old biscuit tins 
with dry sea-sand, of which we have plenty at 
Lytham. I keep them in my photographic dark 
room, perhaps in a temperature of 55 0 Fahr., and 
when they begin to show signs of growing, which 
they do about Christmas, I take them out and set 
them in shallow boxes, with sand, in the greenhouse 
and syringe them. 
" I keep them in this moist state till they have 
pushed their growth and are just beginning to root, 
then I pot them in a compost of sea-sand, leaf-soil, 
old manure (from disused hot-bed), good loam, and 
a little peat dust that is shaken out of Orchid peat. 
I pot them lightly and put them near the light, but 
as the sun gets stronger towards April I shade them 
a little. In watering I am most careful, as herein 
lies the secret of success. I never water the foliage 
by any chance, as it causes rust and disfigures the 
foliage. 
"My plants generally grow the second year to a 
large size. I thin out the foliage in the centres of 
the plants of the upright flowering kinds. This 
allows the buds to receive more light, air, and space, 
and a better shaped plant is the result. If this be 
A specimen Gloxinia grown by Dr. Slater, of Lytham. 
into the plants, even if exposed for two or three 
hours to zero. 
As the season advances to July or August, there is 
considerable danger in packing plants tight as above, 
on account of their liability to heat. To avoid this, 
we prefer to take a box deep enough to allow the 
plants to stand upright in without breaking their 
tops; wrap each plant singly as above, then 
commence at one end, stand the plants upright, and 
where they are large plants placing two rows, one 
plant resting on and standing between two of the 
bottom row. A little practice at this, and the 
packer will soon become proficient in placing these 
securely. Between every two tiers of plants thus 
packed, a strip strong enough to hold them should 
be nailed. Continue placing the plants and strips 
in the same way until the box is full, nailing another 
strip in securing the last row tightly. Nail strong 
strips over the top and mark the box " this side up.” 
By this means, plants can be shipped long distances 
in a perfectly fresh condition and secure from 
damage, because the foliage can get fresh air, and 
will not get bruised or pressed out of shape. If the 
packing is carefully done they cannot get out of place 
them, and all but the extra specially good fail to get 
the coveted award. And this is as it should be in 
the case of all plants so easily raised as the Gloxinia, 
and -with which every care is taken by lovers of 
them to select only the very best for seed. Many an 
amateur now finds delight and pleasure in the 
cultivation of these floriferous and handsome flowers, 
and marvellously well many succeed with them, but 
in all our experience we have met with few who can 
so justly lay claim to amateur championship honours 
as Dr. J. S. Slater, of Seafield, Lytham, an illustra¬ 
tion of one of whose plants accompanies these 
remarks. Dr. Slater has very kindly communicated 
to us the details of his mode of treatment, and we 
have much pleasure in giving them in his own- words, 
for the benefit of those of our readers who may be 
less successful. 
Dr. Slater writes :—" I generally raise a batch of 
young plants every year from seed that I save from 
carefully selected varieties. I sow the seed on 
January 1st and prick them out in due course. I let 
them flower about one bloom, to test their quality, 
and weed out the useless ones. I then ripen off the 
selected seedlings, and when the foliage has quite 
not done some of the very free flowering kinds will 
literally choke themselves in their efforts to find 
space. I always pot and handle the plants myself, 
and allow my gardener to water only. I have had 
scores of plants with from 50 to So blooms expanded 
at one time, with apparently as many buds below 
ready, to follow in their turn. I carefully each 
evening pick off all faded flowers. 
" There is no plant I think that produces such a 
w r ealth of bloom in a given space as the Gloxinia. 
Their cultivation is very simple, their greatest draw¬ 
back is their brittleness. They last a long time 
when cut if put at once into water. Watering on 
the foliage causes excessive brittleness both in the 
bloom and the leaves. I have grown these plants 
many years and tried many experiments with them. 
I first fell in love with them at Reading at Messrs. 
Sutton's nurseries. I had a packet of seed from 
them in the first instance and have tried to emulate 
their cultivation. I find I can hybridise and get 
new varieties every year. I believe the upright 
spotted varieties are the most floriferous. 
" I do not believe in keeping tubers beyond the 
third year, they get so cabbagy in their habit. I 
have one, as I write, quite a yard across, with leaves 
more like Rhubarb ; but it has not the same pro¬ 
portion of flowers which younger plants bear 
under exactly the same conditions.” 
