1880.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



329 



regular way of seed-sowing. A few pots so pre- 

 pared, should be placed in the pit before per- 

 manently closing up. The mice usually make 

 for these pots at their first entrance to the pits. 

 If placed on the soil, they seem to guess your 

 secret, and will not "bite." 



Plants in cellars need much the same care as 

 those in pits. Avoid heat and dampness; fre- 

 quently however, plants suffer in cellars through 

 getting too dry. They should be looked over, at 

 any rate, once a month, and a little water given, 

 if likely to become entirely dry. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



CUT-FLOWER TRADE. -MARESCHAL 

 NIEL. 



BY W. E. MEEHAX, PHILADELPHIA. 



It was not long after the first importation of 

 M. Niel from France, that its great value to the 

 cut-flower trade was discovered. It became at 

 once the king among the cut roses. Its large 

 size, solid look, rich tea fragrance, rich golden 

 yellow color, and graceful drooping habit, and 

 clear, bright shining leaves, won for itself a per- 

 manent place in the hearts of the people. 



It is grown principally in the neighborhood of 

 Boston and New York. The grower that is most 

 successful in quantity and quality is in Long 

 Island, and so fine are they, that the buds are 

 called after him, and bring a higher price than any 

 other growers. New York and Boston consume 

 at least ten thousand Niels daily. It has only 

 been within the past two or three years that 

 Niels have been used largely in Philadelphia, 

 but the demand there is increasing largely every 

 season to such an extent that it is safe to say 

 that in a few yeai-s it will use nearly, if not quite 

 as many as either of the other two cities. 



Niel is used for all purposes in flower work. 

 Combined with Jacqueminot roses or Marie 

 Louise violets and smilax, it forms the most 

 magnificent bouquet that can be imagined. 



A bouquet of Niels and Smilax during the 

 opera season is worth from ten to twenty dollars. 

 The buds retail at from twenty to fifty cents each; 

 wholesale, from ten to twenty dollars per hun- 

 dred. The highest figure reached, wholesale, last 

 year was thirty-five dollars. The lowest five 

 dollars. It is one of the three roses that florists 

 have an interest in keeping the price of up, and 

 so particular are they in this matter that it is sel- 

 dom that the purchaser can buy one for less than 



twenty cents, although the wholesale price be only 

 five dollars per hundred and the market glutted. 



One reason for this is that it is a true '"crop" 

 rose, and therefore, at times, very plentiful, 

 while at others terribly scarce; and as very few 

 customers can understand that flowers can fluc- 

 tuate in value, the same as railroad stocks, it is 

 necessary to keep a nearly uniform retail figure, 

 which must of course be high to cover. 



A second reason is, that just so long as it re- 

 mains at a fair rate, Niel will take with a certain 

 class that would not purchase, if they imagined 

 for a moment that it was a "cheap" flower. It 

 is thus that an innocent advantage is taken of 

 human nature, and the old adage of "tricks in 

 all trades but ours," is fully exemplified. 



A good Niel plant will produce from a thou- 

 sand to fifteen hundred blooms in a season, 

 though occasionally a bush will cut two thou- 

 sand. 



The color of the flower is intensified, and the 

 bads larger, and the plant more vigorous, by its 

 being worked on the Banksian Rose. 



PAULLINIA AND EUPHORBIA. 



BY WM. T HARDING, UPPER SANDUSKY, OHIO. 



To "C.'s" inquiry, in September Monthly, I 

 would say : Probably PauUinia thalictrifolia, is a 

 new comer ; at any rate it is a stranger to me, 

 although I am well acquainted with the genus. 

 P. barbadensis is an evergreen climber, a native 

 of Barbadoes, which the industrious tillers of the 

 soil look upon as a troub'esome nuisance. So is 

 P. tetragona a singular square-stemmed variety, 

 with oddly shaped white flowers ; it is a pest of 

 the worst kind in the West Indian plantations. 

 P. polyphylla is perhaps the best known kind, 

 and will by many be remembered as an old time 

 hot-house climber, and from which of late years 

 it seems to have been banished There are a 

 dozen or more species, all evergreen climbers, 

 indigenous to sunny lands, some of which were 

 in cultivation in England as far back as 1739. 

 They belong to the Nat. Ord. Sapindacfea. 



Euphorbia piscatoria is well known to the 

 writer, and was introduced into English plant 

 collections in the year of 1777. It is, as most of 

 its congeners are, a very peculiar looking suc- 

 culent plant, of low growth, and its native habi- 

 tat is the Canary Isles. The piscatorial is- 

 landers make use of the inspissated juice, which 

 is a powerful and dangerous opiate, to stupify 

 fish with, and which are then easily caught when 



