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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



a few mats can be thrown over all ; 

 but any mere white frost may be kept 

 otf with a net. Hardy bulbs want as 

 much air as they can have, and need 

 to -be kept back rather than hastened 

 in growth, the object of potting early, 

 and earthing them over, being to get 

 good roots, without which you cannot 

 have good bloom, or preserve the 

 strength of the bulbs to another 

 season. Tulips, scillas, Dog's-tooth 

 violets, tritonias, agapanthus, ixias, 

 for autumn blooming, and even lache- 

 nalias I treat in the same way, for 

 the two latter are as nearly hardy as 

 they can be, and only want a little 

 watching that they are not caught with 

 frost, and, if put to shifts, a large pot 

 may be turned over each, and buried 

 in straw, or better still, a bell-glass 

 under the light, and a net over all, 

 especially with a few boards on edge 

 all round to keep the roots warm. 



Now, I will suppose some of our 

 readers to be still in want of bulbs. 

 From the foregoing it Avill not be 

 difficult to make at least one step. As 

 to crocuses and snow-drops, they ought 

 to be grown by the thousand, for you 

 can move them at any time, even in 

 full bloom, and that is why I rarely 

 pot them, but grow them in rows 

 already for lifting in colours when 

 required. Then, for early tulips, get 

 plenty of Vermillion Brilliant, Water- 

 loo, and Sunbeam, for scarlets ; Yellow 

 Prince, and Trianon, for yellow; 

 Grand Lilas, and Semiramis, for 

 violet ; and Beaute sans Pareille, for 

 purple ; and have plenty of each, and 

 either pot them, or plant in patches of 

 one colour, seven in a patch about 

 your beds and borders. Due Van 

 Tholls of all colours should be potted in 

 plenty for the windows and the green- 

 house, and the showy parrot tulips come 

 in well to mix in the front of evergreen 

 shrubs. But if named sorts are too costly, 

 get mixtures of hyacinths at 3s. 6d. a 

 dozen, and tulips at 2s. to 4s a dozen, 

 Gladioli and Crown Imperial, equally 

 cheap, and plant in the natural soil, 

 according to your fancy, the crown of 

 the bulb not more than five inches 

 below the level of the surface. 



Several friends have written to me 

 lately, asking for information about 

 fern cases and lycopodiums. For a 



statement of my views in regard to 

 Wardian cases generally, I must refer 

 to the first number of the " Florae 

 World," where, in the description 

 of a fern vase, I entered somewhat 

 at length into the principles on which 

 small plant-cases should be managed. 

 A soil of sandy peat, in sweet and 

 friable condition, will grow almost any 

 fern or tycopodium, and, in small cases, 

 air should be given occasionally, just 

 as in the management of a greenhouse. 

 Regular ventilation will allow of more 

 plentiful watering, which those plants 

 rejoice in, and the warmth of a room 

 in which there is a fire all winter, will 

 be sufficient for any of the greenhouse 

 ferns which are commonly grown in 

 fern cases. This season, to increase 

 my space for such things, I have 

 grown a number of ferns and lycopo- 

 diums in Pascall's fern pots, which 

 were described in a former number. 

 Of these I have had three figured. 

 The centre one is I/ycopodium (Sela- 

 ginella) Martensii, a lovely bright 

 green lycopod, that grows to a height 

 of sixteen inches with firm steins, and 

 an abundance of delicate white roots 

 from the under sides of its lovely 

 fronds. The figure conveys but a 

 poor idea of its exquisite beauty. The 

 specimen is in a common fern shade of 

 sixteen inches diameter, and twenty 

 inches high to the top of the glass. 

 It is planted in sandy peat surrounded 

 with a few blocks of stone, amongst 

 which grow apoda, csesia, and variabi- 

 lis, three of the prettiest of the sela- 

 ginellas for surfacing. The other two 

 are in Pascall's pots with bell-glasses ; 

 the left-hand one is planted with Gonio- 

 phlebium loriceum, Niphobolus rupes- 

 tris, and Niphobolus pertusus, three 

 pretty greenhouse ferns, the two 

 latter creeping, and -with thick tongue- 

 shaped fleshy leaves. In this, the 

 surfacing is apoda, very minute, and 

 of a livid green, and cresia, the foliage 

 of which is of a rich lustrous metallic 

 blue, and the habit most elegant. 

 The right-hand specimen is formosa, 

 a splendid selagmella, which, since 

 May last, when a mere scrap of it was 

 planted in a seven-inch pot, has com- 

 pletely filled the glass with its massive 

 and involved fronds, smothered un- 

 derneath with delicate white roots, 



