16 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



tration and augmentation of vital force. This is exactly what is wanted 

 in such plants as Lily of the Valley, Astilbe jopmiica, Violets, Myosotis, 

 and others used for forcing and furnishing. As to the exact mode of 

 procedure, the plants should not be kept too long out of the ground ; 

 lay in the crowns as soon as received behind a north wall ; they must 

 not be tempted to start out of doors. Put the first batch into the house 

 in November, and succeeding batches every fortnight, and continue 

 according to the demand till March. Place them in a close warm atmo- 

 sphere with little or no light, and abundance of moisture. The crowns 

 will throw up with a rush, and soon break into blossom in a temperature 

 of 65 to 75 degrees. Very early and late blooms are somewhat difficult 

 to obtain. Crowns will require sharper forcing to start in November 

 than in January, and may be assisted with warm water early in the 

 season, and a temperature of from 75 to 80 degrees. 



The crown system, with ordinary care, and a little more skill than is 

 needed to grow them in patches and clumps, will yield a capital supply 

 of Lily of the Valley from December till March. About the end of 

 May, and through June, the Valley Lily flowers in the open air, and by 

 choosing two or more situations, one the coldest, and the other the 

 hottest the garden can command, the season out of doors may be very 

 much extended. Another point remains to be noticed; the crown 

 system indoors will compel its adoption in the open air. It will hardly 

 do to reverse the usual order of things, in the case of the Lily of the 

 Valley, and have much finer forced flowers than those that come in their 

 natural season. The starving system with which the plant has been 

 treated in the open air, will no longer be tolerated ; it must have liberal 

 treatment, and well-grown clumps or crowns be bought in, or prepared 

 at home, for the production of fine, strong flowers, either for cutting or 

 for the forming of beds, clumps, edgings, etc. For all these purposes 

 prepared crowns would create a new sensation, and give a fresh pleasure. 



CAEPET BEDDING AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 



33T GEOEGE SMITH. 



^AEPET BEDDING has, during the last five or six years, 

 undergone a wonderful degree of development, and 

 many, indeed, have been the happy combinations of 

 low-growing leaf-plants which have been presented to 

 public notice iu the metropolitan parks. Indeed, the 

 examples of this style of bedding during the last two years have 

 been so thoroughly good, that even the experts have been led to 

 believe that it was incapable of improvement. But it is not so, as 

 in the grounds of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, Mr. G. Thomson, 

 the able superintendent of the outdoor department, has this season 

 most clearly demonstrated. The system of carpet-bedding deve- 

 loped at the Crystal Palace is alike remarkable for its extreme 

 beauty and originality, and it may be safely said to quite surpass 

 all previous efforts in the same direction. The examples should 

 certainly be seen by all who are interested in flower-garden deco- 

 ration. There were a few carpet beds on the upper terrace, but 

 the principal examples were on the rose mount, which, as the 

 readers of these remarks are well aware, is contiguous to the 



