126 



THE FLOKAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



edges of the bed on either side they must 

 be nipped off, and under no pretence be 

 permitted to run over. When the bed is 

 entirely filled or covered, let the shoots 

 spread over one another; confine them 

 within their proper limits, and they will 

 soon present a mass of bloom the exact 

 form of the bed, and as full of colour as a 

 carpet. One foot apart will be found 

 ample for covering quickly. Unless the 

 shoots are frequently looked over and 

 stopped in, they 'will encroach over the 

 edges, and thus spoil the shape and outline 

 of the bed or figure. The shoots that 

 have done flowering, if any, may be thinned 

 out. A good rich soil is indispensable for 

 the production of fine bloom. 



The following list contains the best 

 sorts : — ■ 



Bedding out : — Scarlet : Defiance, 

 Mrs. Woodruffe, Eclipse, Lord Raglan, 

 Compte de Morella. Crimson : La Gondo- 

 lier, St. Margaret. Fed : Ge'ant des 

 Bataillcs, Admiral Dundas. Blue Pur- 

 ple : Purple King, Beranger, Hon. Miss 

 Neville, Blue Bonnet. Crimson. Purple : 

 Leoline, Andre, Belinda. Lilac : Azecuna, 

 Euphrosyne, Verrosa. White : Mrs. Hol- 

 ford, Snowflake, Mont Blanc, White Per- 



fection. Pink and Pose : Rosy Gem, 

 Brightonia, Annie Laurie, Earl Shaftes- 

 bury, Ben Bolt, Magnet. Park : Lord 

 Elgin, William Barnes, Novelty, Imperi- 

 alis, Bacchus. Fancy lighter colours, 

 with deeper centres : Jean d'Arc, Madame 

 Plantamour, Julia de Courcelles, Mrs. D. 

 Tysson. Fancy Striped : Striata Perfecta, 

 Yariegata. 



List tor Greenhouse and Exhibi- 

 tion: — Scarlet: Lord Clyde, LeProphete, 

 Lord Raglan. Crimson : Cyrus, Conspi- 

 eua, Madame Gassier, Fidelio. Tied : Ajax, 

 Etoile du Nord, Rubens, Miss Emily 

 Hanmer. Cerise : Bellona, Madam Large, 

 Felix Boland. Blue Purple : Leviathan, 

 Beranger, Annie Grey, Cabin Boy. Crim- 

 son Purple : Leoline, Eleanor, Dentonia, 

 Belinda. Lilac : Azecuna, Eugenia, Lord 

 Canning, Stradella. Flesh : Mrs. White. 

 While ■. Mrs. Holford, Snowflake, Moon- 

 light. Pink and Hose: Mrs. McLean, 

 Annie Laurie, Mrs. Leslie. Dark : Lord 

 Elgin, William Barnes, Novelty. Fancy 

 Haider colours, with deeper centres: 

 Madame Hoste, Madam Large, Felix 

 Roland, Iole, Beaute des Amandiers. 

 Fancy Striped : Striata Perfecta, Reine de 

 Panaches, Mons. Prosper Viulquin. 



BEDDEES EOE NEXT YEAE. 



One of our correspondents is in a state of 

 unhappiness about the price of bedding 

 stock this season. Nobody thought it 

 would be so cheap. Geraniums and ver- 

 benas are being almost given away, and 

 he, alas ! paid a high price in the depth of 

 winter. Perhaps he has seen the bedding 

 plants only in advertisements, and, com- 

 paring four shillings in winter, the price 

 he paid, with the half-crown per dozen at 

 which they are now offered, considers him ■ 

 self hardly done by. We have seen the 

 "stuff" in more places than one packed 

 away in thousands in very comfortable 

 greenhouse temperatures, and not a moment 

 lost, day or night, to make them as big as 

 they can be got, up to the last moment of 

 sending out orders. Our friend has had 

 the opportunity since January of manu- 

 facturing any quantity quite as good, free 

 of cost, as a set-off against the price he 

 paid, for the cheap stuff is all from spring 

 struck cuttings, and he ought to consider 

 himself fortunate in having got possession 

 of last autumn's plants to cut from for 

 three months, and then turn out worth 

 three times as much as the stuff that has 

 been bedded in thousands of places the 

 last three weeks. The winter was an awful 



one, and in thousands of private gardens 

 the greater part of the plants from autumn 

 cuttings perished. Of course the trade 

 foresaw a great demand, and of course they 

 cut, cut, cut, made a plant of every joint, 

 kept the old plants under stove treatment, 

 got abundance of soft growth, and now 

 there are as many millions of bedding 

 plants ready as the gardens can consume 

 at from two to three shillings a dozen. 

 Instead of being cheap, those are good 

 prices. Little bits of succulent stuff are 

 worth no more ; and instead of turning 

 them cut ready to bloom right off, people 

 must wait, and those who bed in the middle 

 of June will be as well off in July as those 

 who made a finish of it three weeks ago. 

 We all know that verbenas struck in 

 March and April bloom to perfection late 

 hi the season, so do petunias, and salvias, 

 and ageratums, but people who are content 

 to use spring cuttings, especially of gera- 

 niums, must also be content to wait for 

 flowers till the season has half run out, 

 and it was in the interest of such we advo- 

 cated the plan of first taking off a lot of 

 quick-flowering annuals, giving the bed- 

 ders another month or six weeks to grow 

 bushy and hard, then to be turned out and 



