384 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
A Fine Basket-Plant—Tradescantia. 
Hanging baskets, vases, window-boxes, and 
the like, are now among the most popular of 
household decorations, and the taste for these 
is likely to increase rather than to 
diminish. Almost any plant will grow 
in these, but those of a pendant or trail¬ 
ing habit are the most desirable, as in 
a basket, or other receptacle of this 
kind, the pleasing effect is much en¬ 
hanced, if the plants hang gracefully 
over the sides. In most florists’ cata¬ 
logues we now find a distinct set of 
plants offered as “ basket-plants ”; thesxi 
are generally of kinds which depend 
more upon the beauty of their foliage, 
than upon the abundance of their flow¬ 
ers. We have heretofore figured a 
number of these plants, and now give 
another, which is among the less com¬ 
mon of these. We had the plant sev¬ 
eral years ago, but were glad to receive 
it again recently from Messrs. Long 
Brothers, of Buffalo, N. Y., who in 
their regular business as florists, make 
a specialty of hanging baskets. The 
plant in question is known in the cata¬ 
logues of florists, both here and abroad, 
as Tradescantia repens vittata. It has 
much the habit of the well known T. 
zebrina, and T. discolor, also useful 
basket-plants, but as it has not yet 
flowered with us, we have not been 
able to satisfy ourselves as to the ac¬ 
curacy of the above name. The plant 
grows rapidly, and produces leaves 
that are strikingly marked with green 
and creamy white, in longitudinal 
stripes. The variegation presents the 
utmost diversity, and it is almost im¬ 
possible to find two leaves marked 
precisely alike. The same plant will 
present leaves all green, some with a 
single line of white, and all white, 
with a single line of green, and 
between the two every imaginable 
diversity. Like the other Tradescantias, to 
which we have referred, this plant is especially 
adapted to house culture, as it will endure a 
dry atmosphere, and almost any amount of bad 
treatment, except freezing. Another peculiari- 
than an inch in diameter, are not certain to 
flower. Tiie crown, or “ pip,” as florists some¬ 
times call it, of the Lily of the Valley, when 
sufficiently developed to flower, should be of 
the size and shape shown in fig. 1. Those too 
small to flower are like that shown in 
fig. 2. But these rules as to size and 
shape are not given as certain, for hard¬ 
ly any of us have had experience 
enough to say with accuracy at what 
size the crown of the Lily of the Val¬ 
ley, or the bulb of a Tuberose or Lily 
will not flower, although we may say 
with considerable certainty, if the 
crown is large, that it will do so. It 
is the want of this knowledge that, in 
my opinion, has made the forcing of 
the Lily of the Valley so uncertain; 
thousands of roots have been imported 
that have not given flowers sufficient 
to pay the first cost of the roots. The 
cost is about $25 per 1000 for single 
crowns, and as each produces but one 
flower-cluster, it will be seen that near¬ 
ly all should flower, to make the busi¬ 
ness of forcing fairly profitable, even 
at $10 per 100. We last year import¬ 
ed what seemed a very fine lot, which, 
on coming into flower, showed that 
one-third were “blind,” or flowerless. 
As in forcing the Hyacinth, and other 
similar bulbs, crowns of the Lily of 
the Valley should be covered up out¬ 
side for a few weeks, before being 
brought into the greenhouse to force. 
Those we flowered last year were im¬ 
ported about the middle of November, 
and were then packed closely together 
in light, rich soil, in boxes three inches 
deep. These were covered up out¬ 
side with hay until the first of January; 
they were then brought into a green¬ 
house, facing north, where there is no 
direct sunlight at that season. The 
temperature was kept at about 70°, 
with a moist atmosphere, and by the 
first of February they were in full 
flower. The Lily of the Valley could be 
grown fiuely in a Wardian case, as it would 
there get the proper light, with the necessary 
damp atmosphere. When grown in green¬ 
houses, exposed to sunlight, it is necessary 
ed in the soil, and it will grow as if nothing 
had happened. We have found that when 
grown in a cool atmosphere, the plant has a 
tendency to lose its variegation, but when 
this occurs, so readily is it propagated, that one 
THE STRIPED TRADESCANTIA. 
1 has only to start anew, by breaking off a branch 
with variegated leaves, and planting it. In 
filling a basket or vase, this Tradescantia will 
be found a very pleasing and useful plant. 
Fig. 1.— FLOWERING CROWN. 
ty, which adapts it for basket culture, is the 
great ease with which it may be propagated; a 
piece of any size may be broken off and insert¬ 
Winter Forcing the Lily of the Valley. , 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
Within the past three years the demand for 
the flowers of Lily of the Valley has increased 
to such an extent, that though the importation 
of roots has probably trebled each year, the 
price of the flower is still quite as high as when 
the forcing first begun. The price last season, 
from December to May, averaged $10 per 100 
sprays at wholesale; a price which, when the 
bulk or weight of the flower is considered, is 
something wonderful, and probably higher in 
proportion to the bulk than that of any other 
flowers, unless it may be those of some species 
of Orchids. The high price of the flowers is 
due to the fact that the success of the crop is not 
always certain. The failures which attend it are 
mainly owing to the use of improperly devel¬ 
oped roots. As with other similar plants, a 
certain size or development of the crown, or 
underground bud, is essential to produce the 
flower. What that size should be, is not, even 
with the most experienced, always easy to de¬ 
termine. In the Tuberose, the Japan and some 
other Lilies, we find that bulbs that are less > 
Fig. 2. —CROWN TOO SMALL TO FLOWER. 
to shade the glass very heavily. When the 
flowers are about to open, they should then have 
light to give the leaves a healthy green color. 
