474 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AMD COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 20, 1877. 



a good old plant, but ig far surpassed in beauty by the improved 

 variety — improved by its larger flower and by the clear white 

 corona on its upper sepal, which renders it so attractive. Pew 

 plants are more easily cultivated then these ; given efficient 



drainage, light rough open soil, water as required, and moderate 

 heat, and tbey will grow freely and flower with certainty at a 

 time when their flowers are welcome ; they, moreover, last 

 longer when cut and placed in water than most other flowers — 



lasting, indeed, fully three weeks. Thus Cypripediums are 

 plants of considerable importance for winter decoration. It is 

 not only the Orchids in flower that merit the approval of 

 visitors ; the great number of plants of all sizes and their 

 health and cleanliness have a large share in sustaining the 

 interest, especially of thoBe who inspect the collection for the 

 first time. 



Among other plants now flowering in the nursery Cyclamens, 

 as may be expected , are largely represented. A houseful of these 

 plants proiuces quite a cheerful effect, and the perfume is de- 

 lightful. Another icrge house is almost entirely occupied with 

 " tree " or perpetual-flowering (Carnations, and so admired 



are the flowers that they are cut almost as fast as they expand. 

 Many of the varieties flower freely in 4 or 5-inch pots, and 

 such plants are very valuable for various decorative purposes. 

 The sorts chiefly in demand are Miss Joliffe, flesh colour ; La 

 Belle, white; Czar, mottled scarlet; Rose Perfection, bright 

 rose ; and Mons. Baumann, bright glowing scarlet. There iB 

 also a stock of the good old Souvenir de Malmaison, which 

 produces such ponderous bloom?. A white Dianthus — a variety 

 of the Mule Pink, D.hybridua — is floweririg in small pots, anflis 

 very pretty. In the Carnation house a Veronica of great merit 

 is flowering freely — V.Hendersonii. It is a short-jointed rather 

 small-leaved sort, yet not so small as Blue Gem, and has dark 



