THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 25 



grower in the midland districts, famous for the display of Tulips made in the con- 

 servatory from the middle of December till May, prolongs the bloom of his flowers 

 by carefully tying a piece of silk round each flower just as it reaches its full size, 

 using a colour similar to that of the flowers. Plenty of manure from a spent hotbed, 

 mixed with loam, leaf-soil, and sand, forms an excellent compost for Tulips. Three 

 hulbs in a 32-pot are enough, space and display alike considered. Weak liquid 

 manure, or diluted guano-water, can be advantageously administered as the flowers 

 show colour, aiid till they arc Avell developed. The plants like plenty of moisture, 

 provided good drainage is secured. 



Nai'cissi are the most accommodating things for spring use ; under the most 

 adverse circumstances they will flower. They make but little root, and are content 

 with a small space. Yet to do them well they should be liberally treated. "Varieties 

 like Florence Nightingale, Lord Canning, and others, will produce fifteen and twenty 

 flowers on a truss under moderately liberal treatment. They are most eff'ective for 

 grouping in the conservatory, and the delicious fngrance they exhale makes them 

 the more valuable. The following varieties are fine and distinct : — Gloriosa. large 

 pure white, with orange cup, rou»;h on the edge, yet one of the best ; Grand Prime, 

 pale lemon, with gold cup ; also the white variety of Grand Primo, with bright 

 yellow cup, large and fine ; Florence Nightingale, white, with orange cup ; Bazelman 

 Major, large white flowers, with deep gold cup, one of the best, differing from the 

 white Grand Primo only in the deeper colour of the cup ; Sulpluirine, pale lemon, 

 with gold cup ; Lord Canning, lemon, with deep golden cups, larger than the fore- 

 going ; Bathurst, pure white, with bright orange cup, very good and showy ; and 

 Sir Isaac Newton, pale yellow, with deep golden cup, more showy than the majority 

 of flowers of this ground colour. These are all well worthy cultivation. 



The following twelve early single Tulips comprise the very best sorts for pot 

 culture : — Self-colours : White Pottebakker ; Prosperine, silken rose ; Van Vondel, 

 silken crimson, sometimes streaked with white, very fine ; Vermilion Brillant, rich 

 vermilion ; Van dsr Neer, purplish violet, fine ; and Yellow Prince. Edged flowers : 

 Keizer's Kroon, bright red, edged with yellow, very fine ; Rose Griseldine, rose 

 pink and white, very fine. Striped and flaked flowers : Cramoisie Royale, rosy 

 red and white; Roi Pepin, pure wliite with crimson flakes, very fine ; Fabiola, rosy 

 violet and white; and Queen Victoria, pure white, pencilled and tinged with 

 crimson. Other sorts can also be selected from the list of kinds adapted for bedding, 

 given at page 1022. 



Finally, plant early ; some sorts keep well, others very badly. Plant not later 

 than the end of November certainly for beds ; for pots plant by the end of October 

 or early in November. — Gardener's Chronicle, 



WINTEE PEOPAGATION OF EOSES. 



UT we are most concerned now about the autumn propagation, and 

 I have yet a good practical note to make, and it is for the 

 special benefit of people who cannot now make up their beds and 

 frames of cuttings, but who mayhap must wait till November or 

 December to set a few cuttings going. I have remarked above that 

 after October, cuttings in the open ground have a lessening prospect— or, if you 

 prefer the term, a vanishing perspective of success— and every day's delay will tend 

 to diminish the total number of those that will ultimately make roots. It is a dis- 

 coverv on which I set some value, that if late cuttings are heeled into a bed of 

 cocoa-nut fibre refuse in a /rame or under a stage, or anywhere in the enjoyment of 

 shelter, with a little atmospheric moisture to prevent shrivelling, they make a callus 

 by about the end of February, and may then be potted separately, and be plunged 

 in a cocoa-nut fibre bed in a frame, or may actually be plunged in the open ground ; 

 or they may be pushed with bottom-heat to make roots and growth at once. The 

 ra^iowaZe of this proceeding is not occult. The cocoa-nut fibre has a preservative 

 value : it afi'ords no encouragement to mildew, it prevents damping almost as ett^ec- 

 tually as dry peat-dust or silver-sand, provided it is only reasonably moist ; it mam- 

 tains a nearly uniform temperature, or, at all events, does not vary in temperature 



