Encyclopaedia of Gardening 133 



in April, with the roots packed in loam in pieces of old sacking, or 

 bound round with moss, they will thrive. When the water is 

 covered with flat brown, green, and purple leaves, and white, rose, 

 yellow, and blue flowers, the pool will be a charming sight. The 

 following are good hardy Water Lilies (Nyrnphaeas) : 



James Brydon, red; Marliacea carnea, pink; M. chromatella, 

 yellow; pygmaea, white. 



Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum). See Flower Garden 

 Shrubs. 



Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus). See Flower Garden 

 Water. 



Flower-pots. Pots are sold under number, according to the 

 quantity in a cast, as follows : 



NAME. 



ones 



twos 



fours 



sixes 



eights 



twelves 



sixteens 



twenty-fours 



thirty-twos 



forty-eights 



sixties 



thumbs 



Clean flower-pots should always be used, 

 soaked in water a few hours. 



Flowers, Cut, gathering and packing. It is a good principle to 

 cut flowers, except where seed is wanted, and there are few cases in 

 which the plants are not benefited by it. Cutting the flowers while 

 young prevents them from setting seed, which is the most exhaust- 

 ing process a plant undergoes ; gathering is therefore an incentive to 

 continuous flowering. There are, however, a few kinds that must 

 only be cut with care and judgment, because the new growth springs 

 from the base of the bloom-truss. Azaleas, Camellias, and Rhodo- 

 dendrons may be quoted as instances. The cutting of flowers is 

 often a bone of contention between employers and gardeners, the 

 latter contending that the appearance of plants is spoiled by careless 

 cutting. Gathering may, however, be done in such a way as to 

 leave the effect of the plants unimpaired, and it should be done with 

 discrimination. To gather a dozen flowers from one plant might 

 affect a bed or border, but to gather 2 or 3 flowers from each of 

 several plants would leave no gap. If flowers get somewhat flaccid 

 they may be put into hot water. The flowers of hard-wooded plants, 

 such as Azaleas, keep longer if the base of the stem is lightly scraped 

 with a knife before they are put in the vases. Flowers generally 

 look best in vases and bowls when little mixing of kinds is done; 



New ones should be 



