Plate 124. 
ACHIMENES, MAUVE QUEEN. 
Achimenes hybrida , var. 
There is not for the summer and autumn decoration of our 
greenhouses a more useful or beautiful plant than the Achi¬ 
menes ; the abundance with which its flowers are produced, and 
the brilliancy and beauty which characterize them, make them 
invaluable at a period when the Pelargoniums and other green¬ 
house plants have passed their prime; and the skill of the 
hybridizer has been successfully employed in adding numerous 
varieties, the most recent of which we now have the pleasure of 
figuring, raised by Mr. Parsons, gardener at Danesbury House, 
Welwyn, Herts, who has already done more for the improve¬ 
ment of this flower than any other English grower ; for those 
fine sorts, Dazzle and Meteor , owe their origin to him, and Mauve 
Queen is as great an advance on the longiflora class as they were 
on the high-coloured varieties. 
The cultivation of the Achimenes is by no means difficult, 
but it cannot be successfully attempted without the use of an in¬ 
termediate house or a warm frame in which the tubers are to 
H 
be started; for this purpose they should be placed in shallow 
pans of finely sifted peat and sand, and placed where they can 
obtain a temperature of 60° or 70°. When they are started, and 
about an inch in height, they should be transplanted into the 
blooming-pots, the number of plants required varying of course 
with the size of the pot; five will with ease well fill one of six 
inches in diameter, and if these can be obtained rather wide than 
deep it will be preferable ; if however it is desired to have really 
specimen plants, the pans should be about a foot across, and 
double the number of tubers employed. The soil most suitable 
is composed of loam and peat in about equal proportions, with 
a little well-rotted manure and silver-sand; it is not necessary 
