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Commercial Gardening 



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like granules which give the ovate wavy leaves a frosted appearance 

 M. pomcridianum has yellow flowers like those of Sweet Sultan, but 

 they only open in the evening. M. tricolor has pink-, crimson-, and white- 

 flowered varieties. 



Musk (Mimulus moscJiatus). This is not grown so largely for market 

 now as in years gone by, although there are still a few of the older growers 

 who continue to raise a stock year after year, either from freshly sown 

 seeds or from pieces of the roots of old stock plants placed in 5-in. pots. 

 Musk is easily grown in any good compost, and in a temperature of 60 

 to 70 F. in spring it soon makes fine bushy masses of softly woolly green 

 leaves, and masses of highly musk -scented flowers. Hybrids between 

 M. luteus and M. cupreus have been raised and are known under the 

 name of maculosus, owing to the heavy spots or blotches of deep-purple 

 brown on the yellow flowers. The variety called Harrisoni has long 

 been popular as a market plant, and realizes from 3s. to 5s. per dozen pots 



in these days. 



Nerine. At present the trade 

 done in Nerines is confined to 

 bulb merchants and Channel 

 Island growers, but there is a 

 possibility that these plants may 

 figure more prominently in the 

 markets in the future. There are 

 many species and varieties and 

 hybrids known, but the one most 

 likely to attract the trade grower 

 is N. Fotheryilli. This is a splen- 

 did variety of N. curvifolia (fig. 

 286), a South African bulbous 

 plant having large trusses of 

 glistening scarlet flowers, each 

 about 2 in. across, borne on stems 

 18 in. high. The following cul- 

 tural notes from The Bulb Book 

 will be useful to those who con- 

 template growing Nerines for 

 market. 



" The Nerines are all natives 

 of South Africa, and are gene- 

 rally grown in pots in cool green- 

 houses. They like a compost of 

 sandy loam with a little peat or 

 leaf mould, and flower better if 



not given too much space. Indeed, several bulbs may be placed close to- 

 gether, and in this way, according to the size of the pot, a better floral dis- 

 play will be produced. A peculiarity about Nerines is that they vegetate 



Fig. 286. Nerine curvifolic 



