CULTURE OF WINTER-FLOWERING PLANTS. 161 



CHAPTER XXV. 



CULTURE OF WINTER FLOWERING PLANTS. 



The demand for flowers in winter has steadily kept pace 

 with the supply, even in the city of New York, where per- 

 haps half a million of dollars has been invested in stock 

 and in green-houses for that special purpose within the past 

 five years. Perhaps no place surpasses, if it equals this, in 

 the extent of its flower business or in the systematic man- 

 ner in which it is carried on. The variety of plants used 

 for this purpose is not so extensive as might be supposed ; 

 the following, comprising the leading sorts, are named in 

 the order of their value and importance for cut flowers. 



1st. Camellias, Carnations, Violets ; 2nd. Roses, Tube- 

 roses, Double Primroses; 3rd. Bouvardias, Stevias, Eu- 

 patoriums; 4th. Heliotropes, Poinsettia pulcberrima, Eu- 

 phorbia jacquiniflora ; 5th. Stock Gillies, Begonia Sander- 

 sonii and others, Fuchsia speciosa; 6th. Jessamines, Bal- 

 sams, Bignonias of all sorts; 7th. Hyacinths, Mignonette, 

 Sweet Alyssum ; 8th. Azaleas, Heaths and Ageratum. 



We will give descriptions of the manner of growing the 

 plants above enumerated, which will be more or less ex- 

 tended as the importance of the variety seems to require. 



CAMELLIAS. 



Camellias are the most important of all flowers used in 

 the construction of baskets or bouquets, and hence are 

 placed first on the list. They are now grown to an 

 extent truly surprising for that purpose in all our large 

 cities and their surrounding neighborhoods. Philadel- 

 phia, until recently, was the great Camellia mart, 

 but of late years two or three establishments in the 

 vicinity of New York are making such rapid strides 

 that the Philadelphia florists cannot long compete with 

 those of New York. 



