CUT FLOWERS. 139 



The following are some of the best genera, excluding those 

 provided with a class for themselves, such as Camellia and 

 Rhododendron : — Ahutilon, Azalea, Bouvardia, Ghoisya, Clivia, 

 Lapageria, LisiantJius, Liliuni, Pliilesia, Plumbago, Statice, and 

 Vallota. The cultivation of these is given in the Plant Divi- 

 sion. In fixing the number of bunches required on a stand 

 in competition, distinct genera should be clearly specified in 

 the schedule, else confusion often arises from the introduction 

 of several species of the same genus, or, worse still, a number 

 of varieties of the same species. Three or more, according to 

 size, of the best-flowered shoots should be cut with long stalks, 

 and wired, if necessary, to keep them in position. They should 

 be lightly and tastefully arranged, using the foliage of each 

 kind where possible with the flowers. The points of merit 

 are: (1.) Arrangement; (2.) quality of the flowers; and (3.) 

 freshness of the flowers and foliage. 



HAEDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS. 



The popular taste has greatly revived in recent years for 

 this useful class of hardy flowering plants, and their cultiva- 

 tion is rapidly extending as their excellent merits become 

 better known. In the schedules of flower-shows they are 

 generally stipulated to be exhibited as " spikes," practically 

 excluding all other forms, and limiting the choice to flowers 

 produced on spikes. This condition ought always to be modi- 

 fied so as to admit all forms of inflorescence — spike, raceme, 

 umbel, corj'mb, fascicle, panicle, or cyme — by stipulating for so 

 many " Single Stems in Flower of Hardy Herbaceous Peren- 

 nial Plants." Many fine kinds, however, are more effective 

 when set up in " bunches,'' and in such cases a certain number 

 of stems in each bunch should not be exceeded, so that the 

 competition may be on equally fair conditions. 



Herbaceous plants are of easy cultivation, and wUl grow 

 freely in any ordinary garden soil ; but in the case of exhi- 

 bition flowers, they well repay a little extra care and attention 

 to their particular wants. As a rule, to get the finest exhibition 

 specimens, the plants require to be divided every few years, 



