104 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ MAY, 
C. Fair Rosamond; a blush white, having a wine-red bar on each sepal, and purplish-rod 
stamens, white only at the very base of the filaments. In this variety the violet-like odour 
is most strongly developed. 
C. Edith Jackman; a charmingly-tinted blush white, in which the red bar is deeply 
coloured and more clearly defined than in Fair Rosamond ; also violet-scented. 
C. Maiden’s Blush; blush white, with a red bar, paler than in the preceding, the 
colouring being mostly developed towards the base of the sepals ; this also is violet-scented. 
C. The Queen ; a delicate mauve-lilac, which, from the colour and fullness of outline in its 
flowers, and its broad leaflets, is strongly suggestive of a spring-blooming lanuginosa; in this 
the blossoms are distinctly primrose-scented. 
C. Vesta; a pure white, having the sepals marked by a cream-coloured bar, very beautiful ; 
also primrose-scented. 
C. Stella; a deep mauve, with a reddish phim-coloured bar in the centre of each sepal; 
also primrose-scented. 
This batch of seedlings was the result of intercrossing C. 'patens ( azurea 
grandijlora ), Fortunei , and Standishii , with the finest varieties of the C. Jack - 
manni strain. Their fragrance is probably derived from C. Fortunei , in which 
a delicate perfume is found. They are all exceedingly beautiful, and belong to the 
cultural section of which C. patens is regarded as the type. In the same batch 
occurred a variety with large pale green flowers, named C. Unique , a striking 
curiosity, but its flowers are scentless, and it belongs rather to the florida than 
to the patens section.—T. M. 
PROTECTING BROCCOLI IN WINTER. 
USED to believe in the laying down or covering Broccoli as a means of 
carrying it safely through the winter. It was either taken up, and buried 
up to the neck, and all its heads turned to the North Pole, or laid prostrate 
V in the following manner. Either way, a good deal of stress was laid upon 
the crown, like the mariner’s compass, pointing north. This hindered the warm 
gleams of the winter sun from suddenly thawing the frozen heads, and thus 
helped them to pass through severe weather in safety. The partial laying was 
effected thus:—The first plant or two at the north end of the rows were taken 
up to make room. Then a spadeful of earth was taken out close to the stem of 
the upstanding plant, and laid on the north side of it, as a pillow for its head to 
rest on. The spade was then put in to the handle about six inches in advance 
of the same plant, and b}^ a sudden jerk the Broccoli was laid down on its side. 
A spadeful of earth was again removed from the next plant, to cover the stem 
of the prostrate one up to the leaves, and the next plant was laid down as the 
other, and so on to the end of the row, and each row in succession. 
Now there can be no doubt that either mode of laying helps the plants to- 
bear the frost better, at least as long as they remain prostrate. The cold could 
not very well reach the heads sideways through the mass of leaves. The plants 
likewise sheltered each other, and, moreover, the stalks were protected by a thick 
coating of earth ; further, the violent check emptied the plants to a great extent 
of watery sap. The supply of food was cut off, and possibly the plants also lost 
somewhat by bleeding. It is certain that they lost much more by evaporation 
than the mutilated roots could balance by their feeble absorption, therefore there 
