DECORATIVE AND FLORISTS' 1 TULIPS. 



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perature about 65°, away from draughts, and .examine it carefully every morning 

 and evening to see that the soil does not get dry, because there the secret rests in 

 ensuring growth : if the soil and seeds are allowed to become dry once, the endeavour 

 to raise plants will prove a failure. 



The seedlings grow very slowly at first. When large enough prick them off singly 

 and give them a little warmth. Plants raised from seeds sown in December, January, or 

 February will give several flowers the same year, commencing from July to Septem- 

 ber. The following spring the plants become stronger and flower freely. Ee-pot in 

 February or March in a mixture of about two-thirds turfy loam, one-third leaf mould 

 or peat, with silver sand added. The Streptocarpus can be increased by division, also 

 by cutting the leaves like the gloxinia, as shown on page 41, Vol. II. 



During the hot weather, sometimes a small reddish thrips attacks the young foliage 

 and flower buds, which cripples both ; it can scarcely be seen with the naked eye. It is 

 the same insect that attacks the young growth of Begonias. As soon as discovered 

 fumigate promptly, two or three times in succession. Plants are the most liable to 

 attack when near hot pipes ; when kept cool they are seldom, if ever, visited by the 

 pest. 



Few, if any, flowers during recent years have made the same progress in public- 

 favour in so short a time as have those under notice, and it may be expected that they 

 have a great future before them. 



THE TULIP. 



It is difficult to realise what the loss of the tulip would mean to our gardens and 

 greenhouses in spring and early summer. Its brilliant or chaste beauty — as the case 

 may be — adorns the flower beds and borders, and makes the greenhouse or window 

 cheerful and gay. Some, who cannot know the flower properly, depreciate its beauty 

 and call it gaudy ; but used aright, with its brilliant colours toned down by the 

 surroundings, it excites almost universal admiration. 



The early-flowering tulips, so extensively employed for bedding and forcing, are 

 exceedingly beautiful, but cannot compare in perfection of form and markings with the 

 later-flowering kinds so long cherished by our florists. The numerous original species 

 are very attractive also. These do not, strictly speaking, come within the scope of a 

 reference to the tulip as a florists' flower, but may advantageously be accorded a short 



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