ii2 Commercial Gardening 



70 F., and produce nice sturdy plants that may be sold in small pots 

 early in the year. When the dwarf varieties are raised from seed they 

 are sold in shallow boxes in market, the plants being afterwards retailed 

 in patches or whole bo^es according to the class of customer. 



Amongst the Tropseolums stocked by nurserymen, one of the most 

 popular is T. speciosum, the Flame Flower (fig. 250), having thong-like roots 

 and tubercles, climbing stems with deeply cut leaves, and brilliant scarlet 

 flowers. It must be grown in cool moist places as it hates hot sunny 

 positions. Other perennial Tropaeolums are pentaphyllum, vermilion; poly- 

 phyllum, bright yellow, with its variety Leichttini, orange; and tuberosum, 

 scarlet and yellow, with pear-shaped crimson speckled tubers. 



Tulip. Tulips have always been a favourite crop with market growers, 

 and consignments in one form or another have been sent to market regu- 

 larly during the winter and spring season during the past seventy years 

 or so. In the early days the trade was chiefly done in pot plants, from 

 three to five bulbs being grown in a 5-in. (48) pot. The cut-flower trade 

 was practically unknown until after the Indian Mutiny, but during the 

 past twenty or thirty years it has increased enormously. The growers in 

 the north of London (Tottenham and Edmonton) were the first to bring 

 cut flowers of Tulips to Covent Garden, and their example was soon fol- 

 lowed by the few others around the metropolis who grew them. In the 

 depth of winter, when the roads were bad and often deep in snow, or 

 heavily frosted, only one or two growers from the neighbourhood of 

 Chelsea and Fulham had the courage to take their flowers to market; 

 and in those days Covent Garden often presented a desolate and deserted 

 appearance a state of affairs difficult to imagine now. 



The varieties grown were almost as few as the growers. The single 

 scarlet Due van Thol then as now held premier place for the earliest 

 blossoms, and it paid to grow, although the bulbs then cost 7s. 6d. and 

 more per 100 wholesale against about half the price at the present day. 

 But the flowers have deteriorated very much in the meantime. Forty 

 and fifty years ago the blooms of scarlet Van Thol Tulips were much 

 larger, being quite as deep as the first finger, whereas now they are only 

 as deep as the first joint. They have thus shrunk from about 3 to 2 in. 

 deep in half a century, and it is possible that the first early scarlet Van 

 Thols are being played out. Still, they are the best at present, and until 

 something better comes along, or the fashion changes, this variety will hold 

 its own for the best early scarlet Tulip for cut flower. 



The bulbs are now grown chiefly in large boxes, 4 or 5 in. deep, filled 

 to within a couple of inches of the top with rich gritty soil. The bulbs 

 are pressed into the soil, and almost touch each other. The first boxes 

 are filled as early as October, but the work continues till after Christmas, 

 where many thousands are forced during the season. The boxes are 

 plunged in the soil outside, or covered with about 6 in. of mould or ashes 

 until the time arrives for forcing the bulbs. The first batches are brought 

 into a greenhouse, having a temperature of 70 to 80 F., about the end 



