u6 



Commercial Gardening 



of flower beauty has gone. A light stirring of the soil among the plants, 

 a rather free mulch, half-soil half-manure, finely sifted in and around the 

 plants, followed by a few copious waterings, and all will be well. 



At the end of a fortnight or thereabouts the old stems will be seen 

 to be bristling with young shoots, which at 3 in. in length are ideal 

 for the purpose in view. Such shoots may be made into cuttings in the 

 ordinary way and inserted in a cold frame in sandy soil; or, by leaving 

 them a while longer on the parent plant, it will be found that they will 



be freely rooted at the base, and may be at once transferred to a shaded 

 border of prepared soil. Where this latter method is contemplated, a little 

 tine soil should be early sprinkled into the tufts of young shoots, and by 

 frequent waterings encourage an abundant rooting. 



SOME GOOD VARIETIES are: Ardwell Gem, Bullion, Mrs. E. A. Cade, 

 Moseley Perfection, yellow; Admiral of the Blues, Admiration, Lady 

 Agnew, and Archie Grant, rich blue; Florizel, lilac; /. B. Riding and 

 J. H. Watson, purplish; Bridal Morn, heliotrope; Maggie Mott, mauve; 

 and Blanche and Niobe II, white. [E. H. j.] 



Violets. Some years ago Violet growing was a lucrative business in 

 many market gardens in Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey, but the encroach- 

 ments of the builder have driven the industry farther afield. Violets 

 are now grown in milder parts of the kingdom, and notwithstanding the 

 keen competition from the importations from the south of France, from 



