58 THE FLORIST. 



A Scarlet Geranium of very superior properties ; the trusses are 

 of immense size, and the flowers of good shape and substance. A 

 Florist who saw the plant when in bloom remarks, " The profuse - 

 ness with which it blooms is truly astonishing ; and the leaves are so 

 small, that scarcely any of them will cover a crown-piece; added to 

 this, the habit of the plant is dense and bushy. I feel confident it 

 M-ill be quite a novelty, as well as a decided improvement on the 

 Scarlets in cultivation." Raised by Mr. John Deans, gardener to 

 H. L. Pattinson, Esq., Felling, Newcastle. 



The above comprise the best things I have seen ; there may 

 nevertheless be scores more ; if so, let others supply what I have 

 omitted; and I trust we shall have no more grumbhng about " ex- 

 clusiveness ;" but that those who have been wont to deal in mere 

 assertions will, for the future, take honest notes of all novelties, and 

 follow the example of 



Whitby, Dec. 14, 1849. W. Woodhouse. 



THE TROP^OLUM TRICOLORUM. 



Than this, few plants possess more real interest ; and it is as useful 

 as it is interesting, for it continues to flower nearly the whole sea- 

 son through. It is so easily managed too, that it may be cultivated 

 successfully in a greenhouse, a pit, or even in a window, if frost is 

 kept from it ; and then its curiously formed lovely red flowers, when 

 once developed, create such a charming display, that any little care 

 bestowed on it during its early growth is amply repaid. Nobody 

 who loves flowers — and who does not ? — should be without this va- 

 luable httle plant, the training of whose tiny shoots over the slender 

 trellis that is destined to support them affords agreeable employment 

 for many an otherwise profitless half hour. 



The mode of culture I pursue is as follows. As soon as the plants 

 have done flowering, they are removed to the back of the greenhouse, 

 or to any sheltered place most convenient, and are allowed to dry off^ 

 gradually. When the stems have become completely dried up, and 

 break from the bulbs, the latter are carefully taken out of the pots in 

 which they have flowered, wrapped in paper, and preserved in a 

 drawer, until the time arrives for their being started again into 

 growth. This will be about the middle of September, when they 

 will have grown a few inches. I then pot them directly into the 

 pots they are intended to flower in. For bulbs from four to five 

 years old, I use 11-inch pots, and smaller in proportion to the size 

 of the bulbs. 



The soil which I find to suit them best is a mixture of equal 

 parts of turfy loam . and fibery peat, with a portion of well-decom- 

 posed cow- dung, and a sufficiency of silver-sand to make the whole 

 gritty. These materials should be well mixed together, and used 

 in a rather rough state. In potting, I employ clean- washed pots, 



