214 GENERAL REVIEW. 



reach nearly 50 miles ! In the year 1863, 150,000 pots were 

 planted with 1,550,000 Gilliflowers for seed, and these brought 

 in an income of nearly 50,000 thalers. The production of the 

 Gilliflower, in 16 varieties and over 200 colours, established 

 the horticultural fame of Erfurt. The Erfurt seed-growers 

 grow their seed-bearing Stocks in pots placed on shelves in 

 dry airy houses ; and only just sufficient water is given to 

 prevent the plants from flagging. So treated, the seeds are 

 less numerous, but plumper and better ripened ; and about 70 

 per cent of double flowers is the average obtained. Some 

 growers also thin out the capsules, or remove the tops of the 

 inflorescence when six or eight capsules are formed. A cor- 

 respondent of the 'Garden' (vol. viii., 1875, P- I2 3) says: 

 " Three years ago I had Mauve Beauty, and accidentally 

 allowed the seed to stand ungathered through the winter ; and 

 in the spring finding a few capsules left, I gathered them, 

 sowing the seed in March as usual. I have since adopted this 

 plan, and my difficulty has been to get single flowers for seed, 

 fully nine-tenths being double." 



A correspondent of the 'Gardeners' Chronicle,' 1853, p. 406, 

 obtained a cross between the Red Giant Stock and the Purple 

 Queen, the first being the seed-parent. The seedlings came 

 purple like the pollen-parent, and are described by Dr Lindley 

 as being " extremely handsome, perfectly double, and a most 

 beautiful purple." The raiser remarks that "the affinity be- 

 tween purple and scarlet in some flowers is curious, they being 

 apparently forms of the same colouring matter witness the 

 Zinnia. Geraniums, crossed byfu/gidum, produce both purple 

 and scarlet broods." 



THE PINE-APPLE FAMILY (Bromeliacece). 



A very distinct natural order of plants, containing many 

 ornamental species, the only plant of economic interest be- 

 ing the Pine-apple (Ananas sativus), a native of the West 

 Indies, and now much cultivated at St Michael's, Azores, 

 whence the fruit is largely imported to this country. Nearly 

 all the species agree in their vasiform habit of growth, some 

 having striped, blotched, or irregularly barred or netted 

 leaves, while others bear gorgeous panicles of scarlet, blue, 

 purple, or crimson flowers. One of the species, Tillandsia 

 usneoides, or Long Moss, hangs from the trees in swampy N. 

 American forests ; and, like many of the S. American species, it 

 is epiphytal. T. argentea is one of the smallest and rarest of all 



