33+ 



THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



Climbing Perle des Jardins and tho noisettes, Mareclial Kiel, Lamarquo, W. A. 

 Richardson and L'Idoal succeed best planted out, and trained either thinly over a roof 

 trellis or the growths affixed somewhat close together up the rafters of rose houses. Tho 

 noisettes ought not to be pruned till after they have produced a good crop of blooms, 

 when the stems should be cut back to the base of the rafter, with a view to securing 

 numerous long and strong growths to bloom the following season. Marechal Niel 

 does not last long in many places, and young plants should bo brought on to take 

 the place of failing old ones. 



Hybrid perpetuals in pots (it seldom pays to devote houses permanently to them) 

 may be closely pruned when the leaves fall, shortening each strong young growth to the 

 fourth or fifth bud from the base, the weaker shoots still closer, and in gentle heat ; 

 successional plants treat similarly at intervals of about three weeks. They should 

 have a light position, where no cold winds can reach them, attending closely to 

 watering, feeding, and syringing, as only strong, healthy shoots produce blooms worth, 

 say, 2s. to 3s. per dozen wholesale. Allowing the plants of this section to flower a second 

 time has a weakening effect, but is often done. Eest the plants during tho summer in 

 the open, re-potting by partly reducing the size of the old ball of soil and roots before the 

 leaves fall. Treated in this way roses may be kept strong and healthy in comparatively 

 small pots. 



For sending to market, roses are cut " young," or when the blooms are in process 

 of development, a strand of raffia being tied round many of them for retaining their 

 firmness and shape. They are arranged in rather flat bunches, and a dozen of these 

 closely packed in a box (Fig. 191), so that the 144 blooms reach their destination in the 

 best possible condition, otherwise much of the cost of production would be wasted. 



SOLANUM. 



Well-berried plants, of a good form of Solanum capsicastrum (Fig. 192), find a fairly 

 ready sale towards mid-winter. They are grown principally in 5-inch pots, and realise 

 from 5s. to 9s. per dozen, according to the quality of the plants. "Wetherill's Hybrids, 

 raised from seed, give the largest berries, but in habit of growth they are coarse, and not 

 popular among market-growers. The smaller, freer fruiting forms may also be easily 

 raised from seed, but the best-berried plants are obtained from cuttings. Before fruiting 

 plants are sold, the requisite number of young tops are taken off, without disfiguring the 

 plants, and rooted in brisk heat, in a close frame. Top the young plants to make them 



