33« 



THE FLOWER GROWERS GUIDE. 



formerly, and when, as often happens, they have to be sold at the same price as singles, 

 they cannot be very remunerative to the cultivator. With a steady local demand the 

 case is somewhat different, as this means 3d. to 6d. per bunch retail. 



In the neighbourhood of Cheltenham violets are a speciality with a few growers, 

 who send them to all parts of the country. Spaces between rows of dwarf and tall plum 

 and damson trees are devoted to violets and alternating crops. In favourable seasons 

 heavy crops of plums are obtained, while the violets, when doing well, are crowded 

 with flowers. Every summer a breadth of old violet plants is left untouched long 

 enough for the seed in the pods to mature, when they are dug in. The ground is further 

 cultivated and cropped with potatoes. In the autumn innumerable seedling violets 

 appear, and these are duly transplanted to their flowering quarters the following spring. 



The plan most generally followed among market growers is to plant well-rooted 

 runners or divisions obtained by lifting the requisite number of strong old plants in 

 April, pulling these to pieces, and saving only the smaller outside divisions and 

 destroying the old crowns. These rooted divisions arc planted 9 inches apart 

 in rows a foot or more asunder on deeply-dug, moderately rich ground, and watered 

 if the weather be dry. Mulching with short manure is of great assistance to the 

 plants, especially during hot and dry summers. Illustrations on increasing violets may 

 be found on pp. 124, 125, Vol. II. Frame culture is also there fully described, and 

 a list of varieties given. See also Index for coloured plate. 



VAEIOUS PLANTS. 



A variety of other plants are cultivated by market-growers either for sale as pot 

 plants, or for affording cut flowers. Cultural details of several of these may, on con- 

 sulting the Index, be found in the earlier part of this work. 



Indian Azaleas. — -These plants are grown so well on the continent, and can be 

 bought so cheaply, that few home growers care to propagate them. Semi-double white- 

 flowering varieties are in the greatest demand, though none so much as Deutche 

 Perle. Madame Vermeeshe is by some considered superior to the last-named, and will 

 eventually supersede it. Either can be had in flower from November till Easter, plants 

 forced moderately hard one season flowering in the next very early without forcing, 

 these providing a long succession of bloom rather than a mass at one time. Cut with a 

 short stem and bind to small sticks, one dozen to each for a bunch, which sell in the 

 markets at 6d, to 9d. per dozen. Fielder's white, a strong-growing old favourite, gives 



