January 21, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
75 
Gloxinias. 
Now the New Year has turned, and the days are lengthening, 
the gardener’s thoughts will be turning towards those plants 
which are intended for decoration during the spring and early 
summer, anil foremost among these is the Gloxinia. A few of the 
tubers that have been lying dried off all the winter should be 
placed in a warm temperature and well watered, to induce them 
to start into growth. One good soaking of water will be sufficient 
for a start. When the bulbs are just starting they should b ■ 
shaken out, and repotted in a mixture of two parts fibrous loam, 
one part peat, and one part dried cow manure, with a good dash 
of 5 -inch charcoal and coarse silver sand. Pot fairly firm and 
water in with a fine rose can, placing the plants in a moist tem¬ 
perature of 65deg. Water very sparingly until the plants are 
well looted, but syringe two or three times during the day. The 
Gloxiniia has very fine roots, and in applying liquid manure or 
artificial, great care should be taken not to apply it too strong. 
Little and often is a far better method than applying too strong a 
dose at once, and injuring the plaints for the rest of the season. 
Succession batches may be introduced as occasion demands. 
There are several good varieties of certain colours, the best white 
to my knowledge being Sutton’s Her Majesty. They also have 
good strains of blues, reds, and a spotted strain called Empress 
is also excellent, having large, well-formed flowers, and a great 
variety of colour. 
R. Thatchek, Wistow Gardens, Leicester. 
Dahlias. 
It is now quite time to start Dahlia tubers where growers wish 
to get cuttings eany enough to strike and grow on into good plants 
by planting out time, Where this is the object the tubers snout 1 
be hrst turned out of tdieir winter quarters, df these quaiuem 
should be the cellar, or some similar place, they will most likely 
be in anything but a good condition for bedding in, and must firs- 
be well aired by leaving them in file open greenhouse lor a day or 
two. As soon as they are nicely dried, but not by any means 
enough to dry the sap sufficiently that the tubers are shrunken 
enough to show ribs where they shrivel, they are ready for work, 
if, however, the roots have been kept in a dry place, all that is 
needed is to look them over (this applies to all the roots), anil 
cut off all the tubers which through carelessness when lifted in 
the autumn have been broken at the collar, making them useless, 
and also any large tubers which can be dispensed with, taking 
particular care to cut out any rotten, or partly rotten, tubers, as 
they may eventually ruin the whole if left. Should it be necessary 
to cut part of a tuber owing to it being rotten, and yet not 
advisable on account of the small size of the root to part with it 
entirely, the cut portion should be sprinkled with quick lime and 
left to dry for a day, when the end which was cut will be found to 
be quite healed. 
The tubers may be bedded in large boxes or potted, but if 
there is room in the greenhouse for a stand to be put up with the 
pipes running underneath, this is the best qilace, the roots being 
bedded in as close together as possible, in about 6 inches of com¬ 
post, which may be made of any well-rotted material, with a good 
part of sifted ashes added. It is best to select soil which has in it 
a fair proportion of rotten leaves or other vegetable matter. The 
roots should be left with the crown or collar well out of the soil, 
so that when cuttings are ready to take there is no difficulty in 
seeing exactly where it is best to cut them off. If the house is 
kept up to, say, 60deg. (night temperature) so much the better; 
but if this heat is not obtainable a much lower one will answer 
the purpose, and in a short time cuttings will be ready, and 
should be potted in sandy soil, one or more in a pot. If the 
grower is a successful propagator, one in a small pot is perhaps 
the best, as they can be potted on easily, as very often if several 
are in one pot they strike irregularly, and some want potting on 
before the others are struck. The cuttings neel not be placed 
under hand light s or in close nits ; in fact, in either of these they 
will very possibly strike less readily than if left in the open house, 
but it is best to shade them from the sun, as being so succu’ent 
they either have to be kept very wet to keep them fresh, or if 
comfortablv and suitably moist will flag far too much, although 
they will in any case do so somewhat badly about the third or 
fourth day after potting, but quickly revive. As to water, if the 
house be warm the cuttings will take it rather freely, and may b? 
sprinkled with a fine rose almost daily. 
They will take on an average about three weeks to root, and 
will soon need Dotting on ; in nowise let them run up spindly, 
but keep them healthy and free from fly, and as soon as they are 
established in 60 size pots place out in a frame. We might 
mention that the cuttings should be taken off close to the crown 
unless in cases where a number are wanted, or as is often the case, 
particularly in new varieties, only one or two eyes start. If the 
cuttings are taken close to the bottom a number of joints and sur¬ 
rounding eyes are cut off ; but cuttings of this description are 
almost certain to root. If any tubers are weakly or delicate 
naturally, it is best to pot them, and be exceedingly careful with 
the watering, only running a little round close to the rim of the 
pot at first, thus keeping the soil just moist enough to tempt root¬ 
ing, without being wet enough to rot. Once the roots start an eye 
the danger is practically past, and more water can be given. 
These pots must be stood ini a very warm corner of the house ; if 
on a board placed along the hot water pipes so much the better, 
the object being to get a few fibrous roots to push forth, which will 
quickly put new life into the tubers and check any decay.—A. 
Begonia Gloire de Lorraine, 
The flowering period of these beautiful and equally useful 
Begonias is drawing to a close, and one cannot but admire the 
level} specimens usually met with. Roth at private establish¬ 
ments, nurseries, also exhibitions during the early part of winter, 
thesei plants are found to perfection, and often do we meet with 
miserable-looking specimens, stunted leaves, half matured, full 
of thrips and disease, showing that something is objectionable 
to their well-being. To these, perhaps, a few hints will not 
be out of place. 
Plants that are now looking dingy might be cut back with a 
few leaves adhering to stools. Place these in a nice warm, inoist 
atmosphere ; syringe frequently. From these we should obtain 
good cuttings. If a large batch is required, the fully-matured 
leaves should be saved from the tops with stem attached. These 
should be dibbed into cocoa-nut fibre, kept close until rooted, 
from 75 to 80 degrees. These will throw up one or more shoots, 
which should be carefully potted up loosely in a mixture of 
two parts loam, one leaf mould, and a good sprinkling silver 
sand. Keep close for a few days, and grow on as will be 
advised. 
About March the cuttings from the stools should be inserted 
round the edges of 60-sized pots. Use soil the same as before, 
w ith a layer of sancl on the top of the pots. Use a blunt dibber 
to be cairied down for the cuttings to rest on. Cuttings thus 
treated will be found to emit rootlets much quicker. Water 
through a fine rose can, and finally place in a propagating pit ; 
bottom healt same as before stated. 
When rooted gradually bring them to light and air. When 
w<dl established they should be carefully potted up into small 
60 pots, using a compost of two parts loam, one of leaf mould, 
a good sprinkling of dried cow manure and silver sand. If the 
loam be heavy a dusting of broken charcoal is beneficial. Keep 
close for a time, and shade from all bright sun when kept up 
near the roof glass. Keep a nice warm, moist atmosphere by 
damping and syringing around and over the plants, weather per¬ 
mitting. The one thing is to keep them growing from first to 
last. 
Thus grown, thrips and disease will be unknown, but vaporise 
with XL All when fly appears. When roots are running freely 
around the new ball of soil, and before they are pot bound, 
another shift is necessary, but more manure should be addel. 
This compost should be more lumpy; pressed by the fingers, 
not rammed. 
When the requisite size of pots is reached and well filled 
with roots, feeding must be resorted to. Nothing is better than 
liquid manure made from cow and sheep droppings, with an 
occasional close of some approved fertiliser. Use weak applica¬ 
tions at first, change as often as possible, stake as required, 
loop lightly up, not bunched, and the beauty of these plants 
will be. seen to perfection. 
They are well adapted for basket work. Few plants can 
surpass them when in bloom. Raised in pots and bedded around 
wi'.h Adiantums, they are shown off to advantage. Caledonia 
(white) is a sport, but the variety Turnford Hall has found more 
favour with the majority of growers. 
A. G. Salter. 
Wentwcrth House Gardens, Mill Hill, N.W. 
The prize last week in the Readers 5 Competition was 
awarded to A. Hemsley, for his article on “Hybrid¬ 
ising,” p. 51 
