ON THE CULTURE OF CINERARIAS. 
79 
on a gentle bottom heat, giving them a moderate watering, and 
as soon as the plants begin to make their'appearance they may 
receive a good portion of air during the day. When they have 
attained sufficient size to handle without injury, they should be 
potted, putting each plant separately into a 60-sized pot, and 
placed in a cold frame or pit. About the beginning of October 
I shift them into No. 32-sized pots ; in these they remain until 
March, when they are placed in the pots in which they are 
intended to bloom, giving them an occasional watering with 
liquid manure. The compost used for this potting is a mixture 
of loam and dung in equal parts, adding a sixth of the whole 
of leaf mould, this should be used in a rough state, with 
thorough drainage in the pots. They are then removed to the 
greenhouse, standing them as near to the glass as possible. All 
flower-buds that make their appearance before February are 
pinched off, by which treatment the plants become bushy. If 
the leaves begin to curl examine them very minutely, and if 
any green flies are detected tobacco smoke is applied imme¬ 
diately, as this pest is a great detriment to the production of 
well-grown and healthy specimens. 
In the cultivation of the Cineraria for the second season, when 
they may be said to attain perfection, the first step to insure 
fine healthy specimens is to cut off all blooming stems that may 
by any means make their appearance after the proper season for 
blooming ; then give them a top dressing of light rich compost, 
and when this is done the plant should be removed from the 
greenhouse to a shaded situation in the open air, near to a north 
wall, where they will require to be liberally supplied with clear 
water — in fact, never allowing them to become thoroughly dry. 
Here they may remain until the middle of autumn, when the 
previous winter treatment should be repeated. 
In summer, when the plants have thrown out plenty of new 
shoots, cuttings may be taken from those kinds most desirable 
to increase. In preparing the cuttings, all that is necessary 
is to remove the lowermost pair of healthy leaves, then cut¬ 
ting it close to the joint with a sharp knife. The soil best 
adapted for the growth of the cuttings is a mixture of loam and 
leaf mould in equal parts, adding a good portion of sharp sand; 
insert the cuttings in this compost,‘pressing it firmly round their 
base; give them a moderate sprinkling of water, and then place 
a hand-light or frame over them immediately, and they will not 
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