196 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



scarlet ; or palest primrose-yellow with streaks and splashes of deli- 

 cate buff. Next imagine such flowers in trusses sis inches across, 

 and a hundred such trusses on a plant, and the foliage larger than 

 you are used to, and the shape of the plant hemispherical, and all 

 its parts evidencing health, and strength, and careful treatment. If, 

 dear friend, you have now any proper idea at all, you have an idea 

 of the sort of plants that Mr. James, gardener to Mr. Watson, of 

 Isleworth, exhibits two or three times a year to the habitues of the 

 Eoyal Botanic Gardens, Eegent's Park, and a few of which he 

 exhibited at the International. 



You would like to grow some ; of course you would. The fact 

 is, there is not a more honourable ambition in the whole range of 

 flower growing ; for it is not a fool's task to do these plants well. 

 They require skill, judgment, taste; and when well done, are 

 gorgeously beautiful beyond description. Let me just state, in as 

 few words as possible, how they should be done. 



Hi/ seeds is the best method, and that followed by the most 

 experienced exhibitors. Good seed may be had of any respect- 

 able seedsman, but if you want seeds of Mr. James's saving 

 you must apply to Mr. B. S. Williams, Victoria Nursery, Hol- 

 loway, for it. Suppose you have a pinch of good seed, the 

 proper time to sow it is during the month of July. As a suc- 

 cession is better than a glut of anything, I should advise you to make 

 two sowings — one in the first week of this month, and another just 

 before the month goes out. I have just remarked that these plants 

 are not easily grown, and to be honest with all our readers, I will 

 here remark that unless they are well done, they become a nuisance 

 and a disgrace ; for besides giving a poor bloom, they show a wretched 

 foliage, and are alive all over and always with green-fly. So begin 

 properly. Sow the seed in very light, rich soil — say peat, leaf-mould, 

 silver sand, and manure rotted to dust (three years old), equal parts. 

 Prepare tlie seed pan with a nice bed of small crocks to make perfect 

 drainage, lay on the crocks a thin spread of moss, then fill up quite 

 to the edge of the pan with the compost, well mixed and broken fine. 

 Press it gently to a smooth surface, wet it thoroughly, and sow thin. 

 Sprinkle just enougli of fine peat dust to cover the seed, and lay a 

 thin coating of moss over. Place the pan where it will be warm, 

 close, and shaded. A cucumber pit is a good place for it. The 

 plants will soon appear, and the moss must be removed carefully. 

 Keep them close and moist ; they do not require much air, and as 

 to water, they must never be soddened and never go dry. If they 

 get dry, the aphis will appear immediately, and perhaps red spider 

 too. The best of all (and the cheapest) shading for seed pans or 

 plants during sunny hours is a newspaper gently laid over them, and 

 of course to be removed as the day advances. As soon as there are 

 a few plants large enough to take hold of, say with about three 

 leaves besides the seed leaves, begin to pot them. Take thumb pots 

 first, put one small piece of brick the size of a walnut at the bottom, 

 and fill up with the same mixture as was used in the seed pan, and 

 into each of these pots, plant one of the little hopefuls, water gently, 

 and place them in a warm, shady place, where there is not much air. 



