246 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
these plants may be grown to even greater perfection than when 
subjected to a higher temperature. The plants requiring a 
seasonal treatment is a great advantage, and so lessens the 
difficulty ; as for the whole of the winter season, they only re¬ 
quire protection from excessive cold and frost; in fact, we be¬ 
lieve the whole order would be benefited by a more moderate 
application of heat; and further, we do not think we should be 
far from the proper limits of the case if we included several other 
plants which are now receiving excessive treatment, and we are 
glad to find cultivators turning their attention with a proper 
spirit to this subject. As an instance, we might mention several 
of the most beautiful of orchidaceous plants, which, under judi¬ 
cious management have been found of sufficiently robust con¬ 
stitution to be subjected to the usual treatment of greenhouse 
plants, and we doubt not that as soon as they become inured to 
it they will be found to produce colours quite as intense with 
flowers as fine, and a growth greatly improved. 
As we before remarked, the treatment proper for the Gloxinia 
is a seasonal one; this term implies a period of rest, as well as 
one of actual excitement; and there is one thing which cannot 
be too forcibly impressed on every cultivator’s mind, which is, 
that a continual and unvaried supply of stimuli to plants of 
every description which may induce them to a similar continued 
growth, or rather an attempt at it, is highly prejudicial; no 
plant in its natural state is so situated, and from this an infer¬ 
ence may be drawn that a reduction of such stimuli in the shape 
of heat and water is absolutely necessary. This is the case 
with every plant, and those from intertropical countries require 
it in a much higher degree ; so it is with the Gloxinia, the roots 
of which should be allowed to become perfectly dry; by the end 
of autumn, and to continue so during the winter, and as this 
part of its culture occurs at this season, we commence our re¬ 
marks with it. In drying off, as it is called, the usual supply of 
water should be reduced gradually: the reduction to com¬ 
mence as soon as the plant has done blooming; it usually oc¬ 
cupies about a month to render them perfectly dry and firm, 
when, if required, they may be taken from the mould and kept, 
as is usual with other bulbous roots, or what is rather prefer- 
