THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



27 



is certainly a j^reat desideratum. I 

 do not tiiink a more effectual method 

 to attain it could be devised than that 

 a committee of some of our most emi- 

 nent rosarians should take the matter 

 in hand during the great rose shows, 

 where such opportunities for compa- 

 rison and criticism are afforded. Let 

 them decide once for all the precise 

 colour and shades of colour of leading 

 kinds, and let these colours be reduced 

 to a diagram, to be printed in chromo, 

 and piiblished for the information and 

 benetit, and to be within the reach of 

 amateurs, and they will deserve well 

 of their rose-loving countrymen. 



By way of suggestion I append a 

 table of colours in their respective 

 shades. Some such arrangement, 

 tinted in after due study by an able 

 artist, would, I think, exhaust almost 



every colour of existing varieties, as 

 well as meet the result of the produce 

 of the most skilful and successful 

 hybridization : — 



Dark. Meduim. Light. 



Purple Crim. purple Violet 



Plum or cla- Maroon Red 



ret 

 Crimson Light Crim- Carmiue 



son 

 Crimson Scarlet Cherry (ce- 



scarlet rise) 



Deep rose Rose Blush 



Lavender Lilac Peach 



Orange Yellow Primrose or 



straw 

 Copper Salmon Buff 



Flesh 



Tinted white 

 Pure white 

 "W. D. Pbiob. 

 Homerton, Jan. 3. 



SPENT HOPS. 



Having a few moments of leisure, I 

 tbink I may usefully employ them in 

 the interests of Floriculture by jottiag 

 down a few remarks that may serve 

 to redeem hops from the aspersions 

 that have been cast upon them, both 

 as fermenting material for assisting 

 numerous plants in their growth with 

 bottom-heat, striking cuttings, etc., 

 and as a fertiliser that may be em- 

 ployed to advantage for potting, etc., 

 after it has become unfit for the pur- 

 pose of furnishing bottom-heat. 



As it regards the first particular, 

 the heat they generate is not nearly 

 80 durable as that furnished by " bark" 

 or "stable-dung," but on the other 

 hand a very thin layer of them will 

 supply a considerable amount of 

 warmth, so that if the cultivator has a 

 batch of any plants or newly- struck 

 cuttings that only require the assist- 

 ance of two or three weeks' gentle 

 warmth to set them going for the sea- 

 son, a layer of six or nine inches of 

 closely -packed hops would be ample 

 for the purpose ; besides, they are 

 much pleasanter to finger in the pro- 

 cess of plunging than either tan or 

 dung. And whether the quantity 

 employed is large or small, an admix- 

 ture of new hops to the amount of 



one-third of the quantity, well forked 

 up and incorporated with the old, will 

 revive the heat when it begins to de- 

 cline. It has frequently been urged 

 to their disparagement that they gene- 

 rate fungus in the process of fermen- 

 tation to an extent that causes the 

 destruction of large quantities of the 

 plants that are grown in them. As 

 far as my experience has gone, they 

 are not at all apt to surpass in this 

 troublesome propensity either of the 

 other subjects usually employed for 

 the production of bottom-heat. In- 

 deed, I do not recollect to have seen, 

 this fungus more than once or twice. 

 It spreads very rapidly after making 

 its appearance, but it is instantly de- 

 stroyed by taking the pots out of the 

 place affected, and either mixing up 

 with it a handful of common salt, or 

 taking the batch entirely out, and 

 introducing a forkful or two of fresh 

 hops. 



Besides being one of the most use- 

 ful subjects for the production of 

 bottom-heat, there is scarcely any 

 soft-wooded plant that will not root 

 freely into them, even when in a com- 

 paratively fresh state, and when they 

 have rotted into mould. At the end 

 of a year from the time they are 



