May 10, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
567 
It is indeed nearly a blood-maroon in colour. The 
flowers are not so large as those of the spotted kinds, 
but the plants are more compact habited, and bloom 
wondrously free. Those who have not gone for 
Mimuluses outdoors should try the effect of a bed, as 
plants are easily raised from seed.— A. D. 
-- 
THE CULTURE OF CINERARIAS. 
These, in point of mxrltifarious colours and size of ray 
florets, have made rapid progress in recent years, and 
have thus been rendered all the more useful for the 
embellishment of the greenhouse and conservatory ; so 
much so, indeed, that any greenhouse in which they 
do not find a place in any month from January to June 
certainly lack a wealth of colour they might easily 
possess. A packet of seed from any reliable seedsman 
will invariably give all the colours one could wish, 
some of them charming beyond description, while 
their velvety pile and agreeable perfume, as also their 
adaptability for cut purposes, should insure them a 
place in the front rank of winter and spring-flowering 
subjects. For window decoration (such as a staircase 
or cool, room windows) they lend themselves evidently 
quite agreeably, and if attended to as regards watering, 
and the dust washed off the foliage at intervals with 
the syringe, they will last quite fresh for weeks—aye, 
months in good hands. 
Named varieties or any particular favourite colour 
must be propagated by cuttings or offsets, and this is 
best done as soon after flowering as they can be got. 
They are generally plentifully produced from the stool, 
and may be detached with a few roots, and thus save 
time in striking. Insert them (whether furnished with 
a few roots or not) in boxes in a compost of leaf-soil 
and sand in equal parts, place them in a cold frame 
and keep them shaded for a few days, when they may 
be inured to light, and when well furnished with roots 
be potted up into 3-in. pots, in a compost of loam and 
leaf-soil in equal parts, giving them a shift as necessary 
afterwards into pots a size larger each shift. For 
ordinary decorative purposes the flowering pot need 
not exceed 7.ins. or 8 ins. in diameter. The compost 
for the flowering shift should consist of good friable 
loam two parts, leaf-soil, burnt wood ashes and well- 
decomposed cow manure in equal parts, forming a 
third of the whole. 
Seedlings, it is needless to say, require the same 
treatment as to soil and potting on ; and where they 
are much in request, a pinch of seed should be sown at 
least twice during spring, from the beginning of March 
to the middle or end of May, and thus prolong the 
blooming season. It will be found that the plants 
raised from cuttings or offsets prolong the blooming 
season wonderfully if grown without any check to their 
growth ; in fact, they may be had in bloom in a cool 
house well into July. Speaking of having them in 
a cool house reminds me to remark that they dislike 
heat at any stage of their growth, preferring a cool, and 
if anything slightly humid atmosphere, such as is found 
in a house judiciously ventilated— i.e., not ventilated 
to cause draughts at any time—and where no artificial 
heat is used save to keep the thermometer from falling 
below freezing point, although they will bear a few 
degrees if not too moist at the roots, and foliage quite 
dry. It must not, however, be inferred that they cannot 
be grown where artificial heat is used ; but the inference 
may be taken that they are more subject to the 
disastrous attacks of insects, and hence speedy decay 
of both flowers and foliage in a dry, heated atmo¬ 
sphere. When grown in a mixed collection, it is simply 
impossible to do them justice ; and they should in no 
case occupy a position over the hot-water pipes, unless 
the staging is slate or stone, and ashes or gravel is used 
to stand the pots upon ; thus moisture will be given off 
and tend to keep them in a perhaps happy medium. 
When thoroughly pot-bound they are much benefited 
by frequent waterings of weak liquid manure, and that 
produced from the cow-shed is best from its being cool. 
Soot-water at intervals imparts a healthy hue to the 
foliage, and is thought also to impart a more lasting 
texture to the flowers. The massive luxuriant foliage 
when well grown is very pleasing, and when mixed 
with other subjects gives all a truly healthy appearance. 
To keep them healthy then, one must adopt the 
means ; and therefore cleanliness combined with careful 
watering and ventilating in all stages of their growth 
must be the aim of those who would aspire to the 
position of a good hand among Cinerarias. To keep 
them clean it is important that they never suffer 
through drought at the roots, nor overhead ; and while 
it may be inferred from the latter I may mean that 
they ought to be. watered overhead, this may in a 
measure be correct, for they ought in the evenings of 
very bright days during summer to receive a slight 
syringing through a very fine nozzle, so as not to injure 
the foliage, which is at all times easily torn, and 
therefore easily disfigured. 
Cinerarias are commonly grown in a shady corner 
behind a wall or hedge, and it is thus quite impossible 
to have fine stubby, leathery foliage—the nucleus of 
success in their culture. Moreover, when grown thus, 
they never can bear an ordinary winter sun without 
showing signs of distress; the foliage flagging and 
drooping down, exposing waxy-looking bare stems, and 
impressing the general on-looker with a feeling more of 
pity than of admiration. Grown in an open exposure, 
enjoying the full blaze of .Sol’s rays, the pots placed on 
a layer of sifted ashes, well watered morning and 
evening, gives off a vapour which reaches the under 
sides of the leaves, thus supplying the necessary 
element to keep them clean and healthy, and building 
as it were, the stores from which to draw future supplies. 
I use cold frames for them and do not put on the sashes 
except in exceptionally heavy rains or searching winds 
—and grown thus the plants are well furnished with 
stubby, leathery foliage, which will bear any amount 
of exposure to winter or spring sun and never flag, and 
the pots are usually entirely hid from view by the 
handsome foliage. 
Stopping the shoots is rarely resorted to with 
Cinerarias, and yet they seem quite at home under this 
treatment, and where flattish plants are more suitable 
for the grower than spiral-shaped ones, the pinching is 
quite practicable ; in fact, for cutting purposes, I 
should say quite commendable. Where this practice 
is considered as advisable it should be done on the first 
appearance of the main stem pushing, not waiting 
until it is several inches in length, which only means 
so much energy thrown away. When they receive a 
check in early growth, and especially in mid-growth, 
they are sure to throw up flower stems prematurely, 
and these should be pinched out at once, and the 
plants encouraged to make further growth by frequent 
slight syringing, and shading from bright sunshine for 
a time. 
Premature flowering is unfortunately not the only 
evil of checks, as these invariably leave a legacy in the 
way of insects—thrips, red-spider, and green-fly. The 
latter, however, is what might justly be termed the 
natural enemy of the Cineraria, and will be found on 
those that have had no check as well as those that 
have. Prevention is always better than cure, and to 
prevent them gaining a footing at any time is surely 
worth a little forethought. I have found dipping the 
plants right overhead in weak tobacco water (at intervals 
of perhaps a fortnight) in the autumn just before 
housing a good preventative, and this may be done up 
to the time the flower stems have considerably advanced, 
when fumigating in the ordinary way is the safest, and 
perhaps most effective way of preventing any incursions 
of those persistent pests. In dipping any plant over¬ 
head in insecticides, the pot should be inverted, the 
ball resting on the palm of the hand, or both hands, 
thus keeping the soil clear of any after effects they 
might have upon it. It is happily only in exceptional 
cases of excessive neglect that thrips and red-spider 
make their appearance, and if once allowed a footing 
the plants, however healthy previously, will soon 
become an irreparable wreck, with seed, time and care 
lost, and prospects entirely frustrated,— J. Proctor, 
Glen/inart. 
-- 
SWEET FRAME VIOLETS. 
(Concluded fromp. 555.) 
Our practice in Violet culture is to follow pretty 
much on the same lines as we follow in pot Strawberry 
culture, as far as securing early runners and well- 
ripened crowns of the plants go. From the middle to 
the last week in April the old beds are broken up, the 
pits partly emptied of the old soil, and 3 ins. or 4 ins. 
of the compost previously mentioned substituted and 
well worked in and made firm : the bed is then ready 
for the plants. The strongest root-runners or side- 
pieces of the old plants are selected and dibbled in the 
beds 8 ins. apart each way. When the pits are full a 
careful watering is given to settle the soil, the lights 
put on and kept closed and shaded from strong sun. 
When it is seen that the plants have taken root and 
growing away freely, the lights are gradually tilted 
for a few days, and finally removed altogether. From 
this stage the summer culture commences, and is 
pretty much the same as if the plants were growing in 
open quarters. Waterings are given when needed, and 
the plants in every way encouraged to make as much 
and as early growth as possible, to have well-ripened 
plants by autumn. 
Other items in their culture are to cut away runners 
as fast as they form, which must be vigorously done. The 
ground underneath the plants is covered with coco-nut 
fibre, or spent mushroom bed, to keep the surface cool 
and moist, which helps to ward off the attacks of red- 
spider ; and for the same purpose, the plants are 
sprinkled overhead every evening after fine day3 with 
clear weak soot water. When the plants have fairly 
covered the bed, waterings of liquid manure are given 
to help to plump up the crowns, and if all has gone well 
with the plants, a gathering of flowers can be had early 
in October. 
The first to bloom with us is the variety De Parme 
or Parma, which was sent to us from the South of 
France for the true Parma Violet. We mostly gather 
from this variety large quantities of flowers through 
October, November, and December ; indeed, it continues 
to bloom more or less to the end of April. The next 
in order of flowering is Marie Louise, which begins to 
bloom in November, but is the most plentiful through 
February, March, and April ; then follows the old 
double Neapolitan, which is the most tender of all. 
We devote three lights of a brick frame to its culture. 
It rarely begins to bloom before February is well in, 
and plentifully through March and April. It is the 
most appreciated of all we grow, both for its light 
mauve colour and its particular scent, a kind of aro¬ 
matic scent peculiar to this variety and which no other 
Violet possesses ; and notwithstanding the many sup¬ 
posed improved varieties, it still, in our opinion, holds 
its own as the best Violet. For a white double Violet 
none beats Swanley White or Comte de Brazza, which 
is synonymous with it; it comes into bloom about the 
same time as Neapolitan. 
We have grown and tried all the best double Violets 
in commerce, but consider the four foregoing varieties 
the pick of the lot. For two hardy varieties to grow 
out of doors, Patrie and Belle de Chatenay we consider 
the best. Both of them are double kinds, and deep 
purple in colour. They take up the running after the 
frame kinds are done. We plant them in an open but 
sheltered position, and treat them pretty much in 
regard to culture as is given to single Violets, always 
making a point of having new plantations every year. 
One season we were rather hard pushed, and left the 
plantations of these latter, and one of our pits full of 
plants, to stand and bloom a second year, but the 
results were such as not to encourage us to repeat the 
folly. Fortunately we have nothing to complain of in 
regard to the disease or diseases which very many 
Violet cultivators are just now complaining about as 
decimating their plantations. Sometimes a few plants 
of the old Neapolitan refuse to grow, and then dwindle 
away in the same manner as some of our Chrysan¬ 
themums do, through a sort of gouty thickening of the 
leaf stalks, stems and joints of the plants, and curling 
and thickening of the leaves. As soon as this is 
observed the plants that are attacked are rooted out 
and put on the smother fire. Damping of the leaves 
we are occasionally troubled -with, but this is brought 
about either by the plants being attacked with red- 
spider through the summer, or by allowing the plants 
to get frozen, when rotting of the leaves is sure to 
follow. 
The system of culture we have here tried to describe 
is not put forward as being better than any other plan 
practised, but it is the shortest cut to success of any 
other that we have seen or tried ; and that the quality 
of the flowers are a little better than ordinarily seen is 
evidenced by the many remarks made by those to whom 
we frequently send boxes of blooms. “I never saw 
anywhere such splendid Violets as yours! What do 
you do to them to have such large blooms, and so full 
of perfume V’ is notan uncommon remark. We send 
you a few bunches as ordinary samples of our system 
-of culture, and we should like specially to elicit from 
you your opinion on the variety named Parma or 
De Parme. We went to considerable trouble some few 
years ago to have procured for us the true Parma Violet 
in the south of France, as it was said to be of a short 
sturdy growth, and to give no trouble as regards 
runners, it being almost devoid of them. If ours be 
the true variety, all I can say is that I see no difference 
between it and Marie Louise, as far as growth and 
runners go. When we first had it, it was certainly 
two or three shades lighter in colour, and with more 
white in the eye than Marie Louise. It also blooms 
earlier and more freely up to January than that variety. 
It is also certain that each year we have had it it 
approaches more nearly in colour to Marie Louise. Is 
this due to climatal differences and culture 1 It is 
further certain that there is no difference—at least, I 
can see none—between this true Parma variety pro¬ 
cured from the south of France and the varieties going 
under the names of New York and De Parme, both 
procured in this country ; and lastly, after some years 
of growing them, there seems to be hardly one remove 
difference between them and the variety Marie Louise, 
so identically are they alike to each other.— J. Kipling , 
Knebivorth. 
