72 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



a marked reduction in the prices of some ; in others not much. 

 The difference is generally due to the varying habit of the bulbs ; 

 some being of robust growth while others are weak. The strong 

 bulb will throw up from two to four spikes of bloom, and each 

 spike represents a bulb forming. The weak grower will perhaps 

 exhaust itself in giving one spike and will make a ver}- small bulb. 

 The stroug variety will be cheaper because it increases so rapidly, 

 while for some reason the weak grower is still retained, and its price 

 keeps up. The prolilic bulbs are the ones that are desirable ; some of 

 the finest exhibition varieties are comparatively cheap, and many de- 

 sirable sorts are very cheap. Eugene Scribe and ]\Iary Stuart (pink), 

 Meyerbeer and Phcjebus (scarlet), Nestor and Pactole (yellow 

 with colored markings), Martha Washington (clear lemon color), 

 Beatrix, Shakspeare, and La France (white or nearly so), Lean- 

 der and Baroness Burdett-Coutts (mauve), and Africaine (very 

 dark) are some very fine varieties ; and none of them are very ex- 

 pensive. One can form but very imperfect ideas of varieties from 

 descriptions. The best way if you are uncertaiu is to visit an ex- 

 hibition of named gladioli. There you will find both new and older 

 sorts, and, as they may be assumed to be correct!}- named, you can 

 select the kinds that suit 3'ou best. Old varieties, or those that 

 have been shown before, will of course be true to name, but the 

 ver}' new ones will have to be taken on trust until their faces be- 

 come familiar. 



TuBERous-ROOTED Begonias are very valuable in the garden. 

 There are a great many varieties; and here again, unless one 

 wishes for a select few, mixed bulbs do very well in the border ; 

 but if only a few are wanted get named kinds so that variety of 

 color may be insured. I think the single-liowered stand the rain 

 better than the double, for the reason that the single shut a little 

 closer and the rain cannot penetrate the blossom. Those who have 

 grown this class of begonias will remember that the blossoms keep 

 closed in cloudy and rainy weather. I can tell pretty nearly 

 whether or not it is going to rain by glancing at my bed of be- 

 gonias. Sometimes tliey seem rather undecided anil are about half 

 closed, but generalh' it is one way or the other. 



Mont Blanc is the best white variety that I have grown. Annie 

 Laing is a very fnie variety with large, pale [)ink blossoms of great 

 substance. Countess of Kingston is a very large fine scarlet. 

 Robusta Perfecla (scarlet) and Kobusta I'erlecta Kosea are Ernst 



