182 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in quantity, the most economical way of doing so being to plant 

 them out in good soil in beds 10 or 12 feet wide, where they 

 will only require keeping free from weeds and an occasional 

 soak of water through the summer, with attention to earwigs, 

 when the buds show, if numerous. As soon as the buds show 

 colour put up a rough framework of light scantling over them, 

 so that two frame-lights will just reach over the bed ; this will 

 keep the flowers clean, and, with a few mats round the sides, 

 will form ample protection against any frost which may be 

 expected before the bloom is cut. The value of a crop of 

 Desgranges varies considerably with the seasons, being some- 

 times rather a drug in the market, but, when an early frost clears 

 off all tender flowers before the harvest festivals begin, it pays 

 better than the later kinds. 



For cutting from October to January I have chosen eighteen 

 varieties, an apparently small selection when we hear of collec- 

 tions of five or six hundred kinds, but one hundred, I think, will 

 be found to pay better than a more extendedlist ; indeed, some 

 of the largest growers restrict themselves to even a more 

 limited number. 



For the beginning of October, La Vierge and Mrs. Culling- 

 ford, both good whites, though a little stiff in shape ; after them 

 conies Roi des Precoces, dark crimson, one of the best cut-flower 

 kinds in existence, the colour, form, and habit being all excel- 

 lent — the fact that one firm has this year grown 20,000 plants for 

 cutting being not a bad testimonial to its merits. 



A good companion to the above will, I think, be found in 

 Capucine, when better known, as it is similar in habit, but a 

 bright golden amber in colour. This variety was put in com- 

 merce by Boucharlet last year, and received an award of merit 

 from the Royal Horticultural Society. 



The next two varieties on my list, Lady Selborne and 

 Mile. Lacroix, both white, are valuable as filling a gap in the 

 succession, but are neither of them perfect, the colour not being 

 absolutely pure ; and, as neither of them last long in perfection, 

 they must be marketed as soon as fully open. Flowering about 

 the same time as the pair above mentioned is William Holmes, 

 so bright in colour as to raise hopes that it is the forerunner 

 of a real scarlet in the near future, and so well known as a 

 splendid all-round sort that it is superfluous to more than 



