406 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 0,189(k 
MARKET PLANTS AND FLOWERS. 
{Continued f rom page 380.) 
What to Grow, 
To make a beginning, and to see the way clear to a profitable result, 
the commencement of the busy market season should always be borne in 
mind, and every preparation to meet some of the varied demands of that 
most important period put in hand, and kept in practice. 
It has already been remarked that a grower cannot have too many 
good Zonal Pelargoniums, in the market commonly termed “ Scarlet 
Geraniums,” of the Vesuvius type. The grower should also have a good 
stock of white and pink Zonals, all autumn rooted, to make good plants 
by the end of March. 
To make up for a deficiency of Zonals some thousands of 48’s of 
Giant Mignonette ought to be sown early in August, another stock later 
on, and endeavour to keep up a successional supply from the beginning 
of March. Good seeds ought to be sown thinly, and when ready for 
market one plant of Mignonette often, but not always, makes a perfect 
specimen, Tne plants should be neatly staked, which should be done 
a few weeks previous to their being sent to market. 
Mignonette for market purposes is best cultivated in long narrow 
pits, placed as near to the glass as possible, and the lights taken right 
off on all favouraole opportunities ; at no time give the plants more 
artificial heat than what is really necessary to keep secure from damage 
by frost. A single flow and return pipe will be sufficient, and if the 
return is diverted so as to occupy the centre of the pit after the first 
sowing of Mignonette has been marketed, which ought to be by the 
beginning of April, fill the pit with masses of " Geranium ” cuttings 
in 60’s, give plenty of heat, and they will all be ready for market just 
at the proper time, the beginning of May, and will be no trouble 
to sell. After the spring-rooted plants fill the pits with Cucumber 
olants, and so carry on the season until it is again time to sow the 
Mignonette. 
Be careful to have the soil used for Mignonette perfectly free from 
worms, a loamy soil is the best, and one layer of crocks is sufficient. 
The soil should be pressed firmly in the pots, and if the seeds are good a 
few for each pot will do ; they should be lightly covered and the surface 
pressed level, standing the pots where no worms can enter the soil, 
finally placing them in their winter quarters. Several sowings may 
be made, once a month. Mignonette if grown well always finds ready 
sale up to the month of July, when the plant season may be said to ter¬ 
minate. Then the grower should double his diligence, and concentrate 
all his energy in propagating for another season. “ Geraniums ” of the 
Vesuvius type, also Jacoby, tricolors of the Mrs. Pollock type, as also 
the silver variegated sort, and golden bronze, sell better in large 60’s 
than in IS’s, because they are more in request for bedding than for 
other decorative purposes ; also the double pink Ivy. This variety, with 
the scarlet Vesuvius and the dark crimson Harry Jacoby, should be well 
established in 48’s by the beginning of January, but not allowed to grow 
too much unless wanted for propagation. The aim of the cultivator 
should be to grow sturdy plants about a foot high from the pot, with 
three or four shoots, and by April there should be no difficulty in 
having them with three or four well-expanded trusses on each plant. 
Any of the shoots which show a tendency to grow stronger than the 
others may be cut off at a suitable point and made into cuttings; 
on no account let the least part be thrown away, for a penny saved is a 
penny gained. 
The double Ivy “ Geranium ” will require a little more attention by 
placing a neat stake in the centre of the pot, and about 15 inches 
high. The plant should be induced to break into four or five shoots, 
which must be neatly looped to the support, and when about to bloom 
the flower stalk should be so trained as to have the flowers just on the 
top of the plant and close to the foliage ; then it looks extremely pretty 
and is most saleable. 
Should the scarlets be growing too luxuriously, say about the month 
of March, and short of house room, it is a good plan to shorten the 
shoots of every other plant, and so prevent overcrowding. The plants 
80 cut back will soon break, and so follow the earlier ones to the market. 
The Fancy Pelargonium used to be largely employed by the London 
florist for the furnishing of windows and balconies, bat since the intro¬ 
duction of the Marguerite this pretty class of plants are not in such 
request. Nevertheless, good healthy plants in 48’8, well bloomed, always 
find ready sale in the months of May and June. 
All the Pelargoniums grow luxuriantly in rich turfy loam with 
abundance of coarse sharp sand to keep it open and sweet. The loam 
and the sand should be well prepared by throwing in a heap, chopped 
over and over, and finally passed through a coarse sieve and placed 
where it may be always ready for use. The siftings are useful to place 
over the drainage in the bottom of the pots, and should always be 
preserved for that purpose. 
Summer and early autumn-rooted stock make the best plants for 
48’s, and if each cutting be rooted in the smallest thumbs, and then 
transferred to 60’s. no check is given to the plants, and they may be 
had in form by the beginning of the year. The plants should at all 
times be kept as near the light as possible with abundance of air on 
all favourable times, even in January and February if mild and no 
likelihood of frost. The fires should be kept low but ready, and air 
freely admitted to the plants. As the sun increases in brilliancy it 
becomes necessary to apply a little shading to the roof; a drying wind 
and a scorching sun is almost as harmful to the plants grown as a 
winter blizzard. 
If the glass is good and any clay or lime in the neighbourhood, a 
handful or two well dissolved in a pailful of water, and syringed over 
the outside of the glass, is a very easy and inexpensive shading j a 
shower of rain may wash it off, and is welcome to do so, for the moist 
atmosphere with April sunshine is most conducive of healthy and 
robust vegetation. Should the liquid shading by any chance get 
through the glass and spatter the foliage, wash it off previous to sending 
the plants to market or to the purchaser, and so maintain the reputation 
of the establishment. 
The White Marguerite, with its cheerful looking flowers so much 
like the “ Gowan,” leads one into a reverie, and to remember the old 
love song, ” Meet me on the Gowan lee.” Thousands of persons toss 
up their heads and declare that the French Daisy is nothing more than 
a perfected Gowan, and pity the taste of those who use it largely for 
floral embellishment. 
The good grower pays no heed to such fancy, but endeavours to 
cultivate what takes the public taste, and keeps rooting and increasing 
what he knows will be wanted in due season. For a certainty the 
White Marguerite is one of those plants which take hold of public 
favour and will continue to do so for some time to come, for without 
doubt it is the most appropriate flowering plant which has ever graced 
the outside of a window. Though at the same time there may be too 
much sameness in the way the plants are displayed in the windows and 
balconies of the metropolis. A little more colour or greenery, such as a 
graceful Palm or two overtopping the flowers, is more artistic. 
The White Marguerite may be had in flower all the year round, but 
from the middle of April to the end of June, Covent Garden Flower 
Market can have no glut of good plants. In season they may be found 
in the conservatory, in the hall, on the staircase landing, on the side 
table, in the fireplace, in the window boxes, on the balconies, even to 
the housetops, and they never seem out of place. 
The Marguerites which command the best price and ready sale are 
those plants which are about 15 to 18 inches high and as much through. 
When the plants are ready for market each should be encircled and 
compressed with a single and almost imperceptible slip of matting, 
which will allow the plants to be packed more closely. 
It will be found that the best plants are developed from summer- 
rooted cuttings, choosing healthy stock and perfectly free from the fly. 
The old stools should not be thrown away. If they are shaken out of 
their pots, cut well back, and repotted into smaller sizes, using fresh 
stiffish loam, they ought to make splendid plants for another year. 
In the winter months keep the plants as near to the glass as possible, 
and when they begin to fill out and require more room every other plant 
may be shortened. The cuttings may be put in thumbs, three in each pot, 
and as soon as rooted shifted and grown in larger. They will be capital 
stock by June. On no account let the Marguerites be overcrowded, nor 
yet give them a close humid atmosphere. Give them abundance of air 
and supply a little stimulant as they approach inflorescence.—A. M. 
(To be continued.) 
La France Rose. 
We figure a bloom of La France Rose, not grown by a great amateur 
rosarian, but by the possessor of a suburban garden—Mr. R. W. Gardner, 
Shirley Villa, Palmer’s Green, Middlesex—who was proud of it, as well 
he might be. It was one of the finest we have seen, and might be 
described as one of the most charming of Roses represented in fullest 
beauty. The plant was bouaht in January last year from Mr. Watson, 
florist, Bowes Park, N., placed in a pot, which was plunged in the 
garden, the pot resting on a tile, for preventing the ingress of worms. 
There it remained till the winter, when it was slightly pruned and 
removed to a greenhouse. The soil used in potting was turfy loam. 
A top-dressing of decayed manure was given before the plant started 
into growth, supplemented by occasional applications of liquid manure, 
and it goes without saying that insects were not allowed on the plant. 
Mr. Gardner is to be congratulated on producing this splendid bloom. 
Seasonable Notes.—Marechal Niel Under Glass. 
I READ with interest the remarks of “ H.R R.” (page 362) on this 
head, and am much surprised that he recommends grafted plants for the 
growth of this grand R »se. I have no doubt that half-standards trained 
in regular upright rods under the glass, and cut clean away to the 
horizontal arms at the conclusion of flowering, on the system described 
more than once in the Journal, will produce the finest blooms, and I 
should think more of them per square foot of glass can be raised than 
in pots. 
To show the faith that is in me I have forwarded half a dozen blooms 
to the Journal office. The plant they were cut from is an ordinary half¬ 
standard, planted some ten years ago at a cost of, say, 29, 6d. The space 
it covers on the roof of my greenhouse is 17 feet by 12. I have already 
this year cut 251 such blooms on this space, and there remain buds for 
future cutting to the number of 292. total 543 to 204 square feet of 
glass. The blooms I have sent are a fair sample of those already cut, 
