34 



Commercial Gardening 



LUTING AND STORING. As soon as the frost cuts the foliage down 

 in the late autumn il, is advisable to go over the quarters and cut off the 

 .-.ferns about 6 in. from tin-. surfar.-. The old lop ran then l>c placed over 

 the stool as a protection from I'm-Mier frost. The tubers are I.est left 

 in the ground for at least, a week afterwards, to allow tin- sap to settle 

 l<.\vn in the buds and crown. 



Before lifting, the labels should be wired on flic stems carefully. The 

 tubers can bo stored in any place where they are protected from the frost, 

 and whore the wind can blow through I, hem and so dry them, for to store 

 them away in a sodden condition means courting failure. They must be 

 well dried off before winter. After this they have, very little rest, us a 

 general rule, for by the second week in December they should be ready for 



another year's work. 



Kxn MISTED STOCK. It will 

 often be found that a variety will 

 "run out", as it is termed. In 

 the case of fancy varieties they 

 revert to a whole colour, while 

 many of the double and cactus 

 forms appear semi-double. This 

 can always be corrected by buy- 

 ing in a new stock from a totally 

 different soil, when not only will 

 the flowers come true ana in but 

 they will produce better stock for 

 the following year. [j. B. 11.] 



Delphinium (LAIIKSPUR). For 

 market purposes there is nothing 

 to beat the fine hybrid forms that 

 are now so well known, and have 

 Itcen raised from crossing and in- 

 tercrossing such species as (da/ n m, 

 elegans, formoaum, and grandi- 

 florum. They grow from 4-6 ft. 

 and more high, have finely cut 

 ornamental foliage, and long erect 

 spikes of flowers varying from 

 pale Cambridge blue to the deepest 

 of Oxford shades, with inter- 

 mediate shades of purple, &c. The 

 plants are valuable because the 

 "roots" sell well in spring, and 

 the eut spikes of flowers of unsold 



plants soil freely later on in summer. Seeds are sown in shallow drills in 

 April and May, and the young plants an- afterwards transplanted 18-24 in. 

 apart in rich and deeply dug and well-manured soil that is if the finest 



Fig. 192. Delphinium nudicaule 



