100 THE GARDENER. [April 



was then the best white bedder we had, and is still a good pot-variety, to 

 which this paper especially refers ; but it has been supplanted by White 

 Wonder, White Tom Thumb, Purity, Virgo Maria, &c. The latter is the 

 largest trusser of all this class. All other colours have been much improved. 

 I subjoin a few select varieties, giving quality of flower the preference, I mean 

 the broad-petalled varieties : Mrs H. Cannell, an improvement on Madame 

 Werle ; Mrs Keeler, an improv^ement on ]\Irs Wm. Paul ; Helen Pennington, 

 rose pink ; Chilwell Beauty, purple magenta ; Eclat, rich magenta ; Leonidas, 

 bright red ; Hydrangea, deep rose lilac ; Monster— this is a great improvement 

 on Lord Derby ; Climax, bright rose ; Salmon, clear white eye ; Acme, flame 

 scarlet, the edge of the petals shading off to pure white ; Titian, orange scarlet, 

 clear white eye ; Virgo Maria, pure white ; John Hopper, soft rose scarlet, a 

 great improvement on Pioi d'ltalie ; Shakespeare, bright red— the individual 

 flowers of this variety measure 2 inches in diameter. If any of your many 

 readers of the ' Gardener ' know of any Zonal Geraniums with larger individual 

 flowers than those mentioned above, I will be glad to hear of them through 

 the 'Gardener.' J. T. Burns, 



Middlesboro'-on-Tees. 



MYSOTIS DISSITIFLORA FOR FORCING. 



Few who have not seen this elegant little flower, the blue Forget-me- 

 not forced, can have an idea of what a pretty pot-plant it makes 

 for the conservatory, drawing-room, or dinner-table. It is also a most 

 useful flower for cutting for bouquets or button-holes. Those who 

 admire this simple plant — and who does not? — need not think, 

 because they have no glass, that they cannot force it, — the only 

 difference between doing so in a room and the greenhouse being, that 

 in the room it will take just double the length of timie to come into 

 flower it would in the greenhouse, which is about six weeks from the 

 time it is potted and brought into heat. So according to where you 

 are going to grow your plants you must make allowance as to the time 

 they will require to come into bloom. Take some nice tufts — I prefer 

 those that have sprung up from the seed dropped the season before — 

 and pot them in 5-inch pots in a nice mixture of loam, sand, rotten 

 turf, and a little peat if you have it. Give them plenty of water and 

 air whenever the weather will permit. Those who want to grow this 

 plant for cutting, can plant as many tufts in each pot, and use any size 

 they like ; or it will grow as well in boxes as in pots. Indeed it is far 

 from particular ; but its pretty flowers and appearance, as well as the 

 length of time it will remain in bloom, will quite repay those who 

 may take the trouble of forcing it. A succession of flowers can be 

 obtained by keeping the first flower-buds picked back. A. H. 



Upper Xorwood. 



