GARDEN FLOWERS. 121 



and said that, instead of accepting tlie glowing descriptions in 

 florists' catalogues, it would be better to go to horticultural exhibi- 

 tions, where one can see cA'ery week the productions of the best 

 gardeners, with the names attached, which can be noted and selec- 

 tions made. 



Mr. Beard said, in answer to an inquiry' whether flowers can be 

 bloomed in a cold frame in winter, that there are few that can, 

 but there are man}' that will bloom in early spring. His theory of the 

 cold frame is that it is a place for the storage of plants, to grow for 

 winter blooming. He grows in them a succession of plants which 

 give him greater pleasure than those in the greenhouse, including 

 the Polyanthus, English Primrose, and Auricula, of different colors. 

 The Polyanthus needs a cool, dvy place, and must be raised from 

 seed every year. From the end of January until summer sets in 

 they are a mass of bloom. Pansies will bloom in a cold frame 

 from January to June ; after that the}' are out of place. He sows 

 the seed in August and uncovers the frame at all seasons when it 

 is not too cold. The Anemone coronaria, a very beautiful flower, 

 may also be cultivated in the same way. He raises it from seed 

 very successfull}' ; he sows the seed in January and gets plants 

 large enough to set b}' autumn. He has also had great success 

 with imported tubers. He lifts these after flowering, and stores 

 ^ them in sand and replants in the fall. In England and the south 

 of France it grows wild. Hepaticas also — not the hardy native 

 species, but the double pink and double scarlet varieties — may be 

 grown in the same way, as may also Myosotis dissitiflora and other 

 varieties of Forget-me-nots. Violets do better in a cold frame than 

 in a greenhouse, where they feel the effect of constant forcing. In 

 cold frames they can be propagated from year to year. Mr. Robert 

 Pratt's were the finest the speaker had ever seen ; they are grown 

 under natural conditions, in frames onl}', and never forced. The 

 Narcissus Bidbocodium,<ov Hoop Petticoat Narcissus, and the white 

 variet}' are very desirable for cultivation in cold frames. The 

 Calochortus or Mariposa Lily is a most beautiful flower, of which 

 there are fifteen or twent}' species indigenous to the western coast 

 of North America ; it is said by many that it cannot be grown here, 

 but it can be with the aid of a cold frame. They can be grown out- 

 doors in England. There is now a great rage in PLuglaud over the 

 different species of Helleborus ; within the last three or four years 

 we have gained more knowledge of them than we ever had before. 

 Here and in England they need the protection of cold frames, but 



