20 
THE LETTER-BOX. 
A Young Gardener. Statice Dickensonii is usually treated as a stove 
plant: but, if placed in a greenhouse in the autumn, and continued there 
till the following spring, and then removed to a sunny situation in the 
stove, a more vigorous growth and perfect bloom will be obtained than if 
the plant had been subjected to an unvaried temperature. Sow your seed 
of brachycoma iberidifolia about the end of February, on a gentle hotbed ; 
the treatment is that usual for half-hardy annuals: every particular rela¬ 
tive to this pretty annual may be found at page 42 of last February number 
of the Florist’s Journal. 
We are not acquainted with the work in question, but will inquire. 
S. Newton. We recommend the following twelve Calceolarias: 
Shrubby —Green’s Prince Albert, Miss Antrobus, Victoria, King, Sultan, 
and Magnum Bonum; Herbaceous —Barns’s King, Criterion, Sylph, Bride 
of Abydos, Madonna, and Adonis. 
A Constant Reader. To propagate the tribe of Liliums by the scales 
is a very easy process : at the time when potting the old roots, which 
should be done in the course of the present month, remove as many scales 
(we use the familiar) as may be required, or can be spared from the 
original root, without materially injuring it; though, for every one taken off 
a corresponding reduction of vigour must be expected ; in detaching them 
get them as entire as possible, and, having ready a sufficient number of 
small pots filled with peat and white sand in equal proportions, place three 
or four pieces in each pot, and cover them over with the soil: they may be 
afterwards kept in a cold frame, and will form blooming roots in three 
years. 
W. S. Defer planting your Gladiolus till the end of February; they de¬ 
light in a free rich soil, and should be placed about four inches deep, 
reckoning from the crown of the bulb to the surface of the soil; after 
planting cover the bed with a stratum of leaves about three inches thick. 
T. Achimenes longiflora may be had of any respectable nurseryman 
near the metropolis, and we should think but few in the country are without 
it. The varieties of fuchsias are now' so numerous that a selection becomes 
difficult: we would recommend F. Toddiana, figured in our October 
number; Thyne’s Magnifica, Chandelerii Conspicua arborea, St. Clare, 
and Fulgens multiflora. 
Felix. Plant your Ranunculus in the first favorable weather that pre¬ 
sents towards the end of February ; an inch and a half is deep enough. 
