THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



23 



very most, a third, and to this I consider 

 that the disk in an edged flower should 

 be in proportion to the edge. Contrast is 

 a great point in selfs, but not in edged 

 flowers. Supposing we have a flower with 

 a rosy carmine margin or edge, no varia- 

 tion of colour in the disk would make it 

 more attractive, but with a self-colour it 

 certainly would be a dull affair. A blue 

 self with a gray disk is very striking, or a 

 white with a blue disk has a similar effect, 

 from the contrast. To make the circum- 

 ference of the flower perfect, the petals 

 must be. remarkably broad and blunt. 

 Cultivation and skill will bring it to this 

 standard of properties. 



At the present time, one of the finest 

 flowers in substance and outline, if not in 

 colour, is Turner's Perfection, which is 

 slightly reflexed, and so aids the formation 

 of a perfect circumference. This reflex 

 should be so slight as scarcely to be ob- 

 served, except on close inspection ; it is a 

 great addition to beauty of form in this 

 flower. A moderate temperature is best 

 adapted to the Cineraria, two degrees 

 above freezing-point may be borne at 

 night, but half a degree of frost shows its 

 results. A temperature of 40° by night, 



with a rise of 10' by sun in the day, is the 

 proper average. If it be necessary to 

 apply artificial heat, it must be done 

 judiciously, so as not to cause too dry an 

 atmosphere, which brings the thrip ; and 

 to this disease in the Cineraria there is 

 little chance of cure. On the other hand, 

 too much dampness, and shade with it, so 

 as not sufficiently to dry them off by day, 

 brings on mildew. This may be eradicated, 

 if taken in time, by an application of a 

 solution made of one ounce of tobacco, two 

 ounces of soft soap, and a handful of sul- 

 phur, tied in a muslin bag, boiled in two 

 quarts of soft water, until its strength can 

 be squeezed out by twisting the bag. Then 

 add to it six quarts more of water, and let 

 it stand until quite cool, when it will be fit 

 for use. If the plants are in 48 or 32-sized 

 pots, place the hand over the surface, and 

 dip the whole of the plant in. The immer- 

 sion will not only destroy mildew, but 

 black or green-fly. If the plants are 

 large, the solution may be applied by the 

 syringe, both underneath and above the 

 foliage. James Holland, 



Gardener to R. W. Pealces, JEsq., 

 Spring Grove, Isleworfh. 



TOMATOES IN POTS. 



I do not plant out Tomatoes, but j 

 have had instead good crops from 

 plants in pots, with, no trouble in 

 training or stopping, and no failure as ! 

 to production or ripening. I sow the 

 seed in February, in a sixty pot ; the 

 plants are kept under glass, starving, 

 till the middle of April, then shifted 

 into thumbs, and put on the potting 

 board for a week. They are then 

 packed together under a warm fence ; 

 when they want it, are shifted into 

 sixties, and allowed to get quite pot- 

 bound. Another shift into six-inch 

 pots starts them into bloom at less 

 than a foot high, and their further 

 growth depends on their amount of 

 root room. If left alone, and allowed 

 to root through, their pots, they swell 

 their fruit well, and make no more 

 growth, and every plant bears from 

 nine to a dozen and a-half good fruits, 

 which are ripe by the end of Sep- 

 tember. To swell them, give liquid 

 manure once a week. I allow no sue- 1 



cession of blooms. Any that are not 

 quite ripe when sun heat begins to 

 fail, may be put under glass for a 

 fortnight ; or, if of good size, cut off 

 the fruit with a good length of stem, 

 and hang them in a warm room, and 

 they soon ripen. Tor small consumers, 

 who want only a dozen or two, this plan 

 is preferable to planting out ; the pot 

 plants are entirely under control, and 

 require almost no attention at all. 

 When tomatoes are grown to plan 

 out, they should be always made to 

 show bloom first in pots, else they may 

 run any number of yards and waste 

 the entire season in merely succulent 

 growth. The many failures that oc- 

 cur might all be avoided by the ob- 

 servation of this simple rule. I should 

 think market-growers might make a 

 good thing by growing Tomatoes in 

 pots for Covent Garden Market ; they 

 would pay better than egg plants for the 

 London windows, if got ripe before the 

 foliage began to change colour. S. H. 



