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Varieties. We have now, thanks in a great measure to the untiring 

 efforts of the late M. B. Latour-Marliac, and more recently to his son 

 and successor, a marvellous selection of hybrids, and that in surprising 

 variety, both as it pertains to colour, to vigour, and to freedom of 

 growth. There is an abundant choice now in whites, in pale pinks, in 

 deeper pinks and rose colours, in reds, in crimsons of various shades, 

 and in yellows also. Of these some of the more recently-raised hybrids 

 are most remarkable, both in purity of colouring, in size of flowers, 

 in the breadth and substance of the petals, and in their floriferousness. 

 To look at some of these later hybrids when in their full beauty is but 

 to admire them, and even to wonder how they have been evolved out 

 of those we knew, say, ten years back. In more than one instance the 

 season of flowering has been extended, both early and late. Some of 

 the best of these newer hybrids, so far as I have been able to 

 note them, are : Whites N.virginalis (Latour-Marliac, 1910), which 

 is very free-flowering, with flowers of the largest size, the petals being 

 shell-shaped and of the purest white. The sepals are very slightly 

 tinged with faint rose colour at the base, the stamens being yellow. 

 With us it is the earliest of all to flower, as well as one of the very 

 latest. Its description anent this by Latour-Marliac is " precoce et 

 tardive," and it well explains this characteristic. The foliage is large, 

 and has a faint tinge of purple therein. The pale pinks, N. Mrs. Rich- 

 mond (Latour-Marliac, 1910) is, in my opinion, the most lovely flower 

 imaginable in this the softest of colours. Of it we have had flowers 

 nearly, or quite, 9 inches in diameter. The petals are broad and 

 massive, the stamens yellow. The flowers, when fully expanded, 

 are a lovely sight. Its vigour, too, is all that one can desire. It 

 has flowered now for two seasons with us, and is gaining in vigour. 

 N. formosa (Latour-Marliac, 1909) is somewhat similar to the pre- 

 ceding in its colouring, but deepening towards the centre. The 

 petals in this instance, I have noted, are distinctly margined with 

 pale pink (quite a picotee edge); the growth, also, of this hybrid is 

 very vigorous. The stamens are yellow and the flowers of the largest 

 size. JV. somptuosa (Latour-Marliac, 1909), in which the rose colour is 

 slightly more intensified, is another acquisition. In form it very much 

 resembles N. Laydekeri rosea, having that incurved shape of the petals. 

 The stamens are of a deep orange tint. I should add that the petals 

 are more numerous than in many of these hybrids ; in addition, also, 

 it is fragrant. The growth is both dense and vigorous. TV. Newton 

 (Latour-Marliac, 1910) is not, strictly speaking, a pink colour, having a 

 suffusion of vermilion, though of a pale shade. Its flowers are stellate 

 in form and stand distinctly above the foliage; the stamens are 

 orange yellow. N. Colossea (Latour-Marliac, 1901) is not quite a 

 new variety ; nevertheless, I do not think it is sufficiently known. It 

 produces the largest flowers of any with us, and is best described as 

 being a glorified N. Marliacea rosea. I have noted its flowers in the 

 height of the season as much as 10 inches in diameter. It flowers both 

 early and late ; the foliage, also, is of the largest size. The parentage 



