3 o8 THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



and the later sorts twice. If the early varieties are massed, temporary protection 

 may be afforded them where they are, the Desgranges family in particular paying 

 well under this treatment. A week before lifting cut round each plant with a 

 spade 6 inches from the stem, to cause the formation of root fibres, and if the soil 

 be dry give a good watering the evening before their removal. If they are to follow 

 tomatoes or cucumbers under glass, it may be necessary to well moisten the soil in the 

 beds. The chrysanthemums should be lifted with as much earth about the roots as will 

 hold together safely, and be replanted firmly and closely together in rich soil. They 

 will require abundance of water, and, if all goes on well, very few of the flowers will 

 have large, open centres, or " eyes," to them. Eeplanting in beds is preferable to 

 placing the plants in pots, in which the roots have, perforce, to be crowded. 



CINERARIAS. 



Only as pot plants are Cinerarias saleable, and there is not sufficient demand for 

 them to justify market growers in providing other than for the wants of their own 

 immediate neighbourhood, or regular customers. They may be had in flower by mid- 

 winter by sowing seed in May, and not giving the plants a check to their growth at any 

 time; but they are more appreciated early in the spring, from seed sown in June, or 

 raised from offsets. From first to last they must be afforded cool treatment. During the 

 summer, cold frames facing the north are the best positions for the plants, and through 

 the winter, stages in houses from which damp and frost are expelled by fire-heat. There 

 must be no forcing, or the plants will be quickly infested with green fly. Avoid crowd- 

 ing, and promote healthy growth with liquid manure. Plants in 5 -inch pots, when in 

 flower, fetch 5s. to 6s. per dozen wholesale, those in 6-inch pots being worth rather more. 



CYCLAMENS. 



These have largely taken the places of cinerarias and primulas for flowering in rooms, 

 greenhouses, and conservatories (Fig. 176), and well-grown plants find a ready sale 

 from October till April inclusive. In 5-inch pots they fetch from 7s. to 10s. per dozen, 

 and in the 6-inch size 12s. to 15s. per dozen. In a cut state a certain sale is found for 

 the best whites at 4d. to 6d. per dozen blooms, the coloured varieties not bringing quite 

 so much. The Persicum giganteum strain is the most profitable, and if not so flori- 

 ferous as the ordinary Persicum strains, the plants possess a stronger constitution, and 



