THE CULTIVATOR. 
fin /Inmtr ifnrimi. 
SUMMER FLOWERS. 
The Tiger Flower. 
One of the finest,—"most showy, and 
brilliant flowers that ever bloomed in a 
garden, is the Mexican Tiger Flower— 
a plant which has been known many 
years to cultivators, and which, but for 
one difficulty, would now be as common 
as roses and tulips. This difficulty is 
the tender character of the bulb, ren¬ 
dering it neccessary to take it up on 
the approach of winter, and preserve 
it like the root of the dahlia. 
The Tiger flower has the eminent 
advantage over many other bulbous 
flowers of blooming for two or three 
months in succession, after most other 
flowers are gone, or throughout the 
latter half of summer and early part 
of autumn. The flowers open in the 
morning and fade before evening; yet 
a constant succession on the stem keeps_ 
up a continued supply. Any good soil 
will answer for this plant, but the size and beauty will 
be much augmented by planting it in a bed made on 
purpose, of equal parts of manure and white sand. 
As a touch of frost will destroy the bulbs, they may 
be kept through winter by first drying them two or 
three days, and then, after cutting off the tops, by 
packing them in a box of dry sand, which maybe kept 
on a shelf in a moderately dry cellar, or in a green¬ 
house. 
There are two distinct species of this plant,—the red, 
or Tigridia pavonia , which is of a rich orange crim¬ 
son ; and the yellow, or T. conchiflora , which has a 
rich yellow color—both these species being spotted with 
rich purple and dark crimson in the bottom of the cups. 
FINE SEEDLING PETUNIAS. 
Messrs. Editors —Last year, when making up my 
flower garden, I procured four varieties of petunias, 
the finest I could obtain, viz., North London, Enchant¬ 
ress, Prince of Wales and Duke of Bedford; these 
were planted in a row about two feet apart, and were 
suffered to bloom and ripen their seed all summer. 
Last spring many hundreds of young plants came up 
from the seeds scattered the summer before ; of the'se 
I selected the finest and" most promising, and trans¬ 
planted them into a bed of good rich garden mould in 
hopes of obtaining one or two fine specimens-by this 
process of natural hybridization, and my hopes in this 
respect have been more than realized. I have now 
ten new varieties, much finer than any I have erev 
before seen. Imagine a bed of fine healthy plants 
some of them already forming masses two feet across, 
and covered with flowers two and a half inches in 
diameter; some pure white; others with the most 
delicate tints of rose, lilac, purple and crimson ; and 
these again edged and veined with colors still deeper 
THE TIGER FLOWER. 
and richer; and as beautiful in form as in color, some 
being in the form of a large bell, others like an ele¬ 
gantly folded turban ; altogether making a display of 
beauty and variety such as is seldom seen in any col¬ 
lection. 
Many of the smaller varieties are also very beauti¬ 
ful, being of various shades of rose and lilac, and 
richly veined with carmine, lake or purple. One in 
particular is of a pale lilac, veined with dark indigo, 
almost black. I need not speak of the exquisite en¬ 
joyment derived from watching the development of 
these beautifnl flowers. Let your readers try the ex¬ 
periment. N. Stone. Oswego , July 20th , 1^54. 
TROPEOLUM LOBBIANUM. 
The above figure is a representation of a 
