THE FLORIST. 
43 
dant and brilliant bloom during the season; and yet it is a flower which 
few florists think it worth their while to cultivate : still, with the 
little care that has been bestowed upon it, few have made more im¬ 
provement during the last half-a-dozen years ; and no plant requires 
less attention, or repays you with a greater or more pleasing variety. 
To obtain new sorts, save no seed except from the choicest va¬ 
rieties. Sow in February, in seed-pans, which place in a gentle heat, 
till the plants are from 2 to 3 inches high. Then prick them out 
into boxes or pots, about two inches apart, and gradually harden them 
off, till the weather is sufficiently mild to plant them out, which do 
in good rich soil. With this treatment, they get a good size early, 
and bloom about August. Such as are worth keeping, propagate 
from by cuttings ; destroy all bad-coloured flowers, as soon as you 
see them bloom. 
For stock the next season, take cuttings of the whole of your 
plants you intend keeping; which, when rooted, keep in single pots, 
in a cold frame. During the winter, it is not well to trust to your 
old plants, for a severe winter will destroy them ; besides, the blooms 
from young plants, that are well grown, are much finer. In the 
spring, bed them out in a rich soil, varying the colours as much 
as possible, so as to produce a fine effect: in July, they will be a 
mass of bloom. When the beauty of the flower, which lasts a long 
time, is over, cut off all the old flower-stems, with the exception of 
a single spike, for seed, if you want it: thus treated, they will be 
covered again very soon with flowers, and remain in bloom till the 
latter end of November. The second blooms are not so large in the 
spike as the first, but the plants are more compact, and the colour 
equally brilliant. 
The only reason for raising the seedling plants in heat is, that 
by that means you gain a season. I raise mine in the vinery, Feb¬ 
ruary being the time I commence forcing, and the house is then at 
a moderate temperature. 
Huddersfield. J. R. 
ON THE BEST MODE OF REPORTING THE WINNING 
STANDS OF FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
I live at a considerable distance from the principal floricultural 
exhibitions, and hardly ever see one of them. Let me suggest to 
you that in reporting the winning collections of Dahlias, Pansies, 
&c. you should invariably commence with the upper row of the box 
or stand, and go through them in succession from left to right. By 
this means your readers w r ill not only know the names of the flowers, 
but also the manner in which they were arranged ; and learn, with 
some degree of accuracy,, the size of the blooms ; as it is customary 
to place the largest at the top, and the smallest in the front or bot¬ 
tom row. 
J. H. G. 
The above mode of reporting is the customary one ; but we agree 
