September 2, 1899. THE GARDENING W O R L D . 9 
There is a rumour that a German syndicate intends 
to buy it and turn the place into a sort of northern 
Monte Carlo, but it is highly desirable that the 
story should prove to be a hoax. 
“SOLD UNDER THE HAMMER.” 
“Grouse are cheap to-day,” is what you see where- 
ever there's a poulterer’s shop. So many birds laid 
so many eggs and sat upon them. So many hairy 
little chirpers popped out of these eggs and grew up. 
Humane man, wishing, we presume, to retain the 
balance of Nature, went out to the moors and shot 
these; fat grouse and packed them off to someone 
who would sell them to tempt dainty appetites. 
That's one side of life, or rather, that’s one of the 
seams of life. But here, again, so many fine, sound 
bulbs in the congenial soils of Holland, South 
France, or Japan, and the Cape yielded a progeny 
of young bulbils. Men, many men there are of them, 
too, lifted these parent bulbs, took away the baby 
bulbs, treated them kindly, and, by-and-bye, the 
little bulbs grow big. They were large enough, in¬ 
deed, to yield bloom ; so the master, who had cared 
for and tended to these, weighed them in his hand 
aDd said, “Let these be sold.” So out came the 
tools and all the stock was gathered and cleaned. 
Brown paper bags and the shells of hemp seed for- 
packing were brought out, and many different lots 
made up. 
Everybody's pocket is not leaded with that the 
love of which is "the root of all evil," and, accordingly 
quantities and mixtures have to vary. But now all 
has been prepared and the steamers into which they 
have been stored steer westward. Towards London ? 
Yes, that’s where they are to land. Then there's 
loading and unloading, checking and reckonings, but 
at last the delivery vans have taken the great cases, 
each with so many packages, to the public auction 
rooms in this case. And, .of course, whose rooms 
would they be, seeing the stock is horticultural pro¬ 
duce? whose, but the Messrs.'Protheroe and Morris’, 
at 67 and 68, Cheapside, E.C. It is they, then, who 
are to sell. 
The trade sales are now running, and will do so 
for some while yet. Each day the work commences 
at 11 o’clock prompt (except Saturday), and thou¬ 
sands and thousands are disposed of before evening. 
Here, in a light but rather hot sale room, in these 
dog-days, are stages which are marked off all along 
the sides and loaded with bulb packages. The 
whole business of buying and selling is done here 
The auctioneer’s desk occupies a central position 
Dext the east wall, while in front are benches and 
seats, with a table and tray upon which the sample 
bulbs are exposed. Those who buy in quantity have 
their lots despatched to the basement packing-room, 
by means of a narrow, steeply sloping gullet, down 
which they slide. This " shoot ’’ is simple and con¬ 
venient. - ' 
Anyone who cannot themselves attend may com¬ 
mission the Messrs. Protheroe & Morris to do so, 
with the full confidence of being reliably served. 
This fact was amply demonstrated during the writer’s 
visit, not a few lots being taken up by the com¬ 
missary. The attendance is highly respectable, and 
one may see the titled gentleman sitting at peace 
with the dealers " in bulbs, seeds, and sundries.” 
Gentlemen's gardeners are there, too, and business¬ 
men also who have a rod or two of land out in the 
suburbs, and know how to make the same lovely at 
the cheapest cost. 
Really, the bulbs are ridiculously low-priced, and 
as Mr. Protheroe said : “ It wouldn’t be good 1 or us 
if the Dutchmen were here.” Narcissus in most of 
the popular varieties, were sold in large, medium, and 
smaller lots in rotation, Such fine things as Golden 
Spur, Sir Watkin, Bicolor Empress, Sulphur 
Sancho, Barri major, Stella alba, and so on were 
frequently put up. Hyacinths and Tulips in named 
reds, blues, and white, or in mixtures, were being 
offered all along the line. Besides these, one could 
buy lots of 500 or 1,000 Scilla sibirica, Spanish and 
English Iris, Crown Imperials, Crocuses, Snowdrops, 
Triteleia uniflora, and Grape Hyacinths at prices 
which would simply leave you wondering about how 
the growers did for a profit, and after wondering and 
thinking for a week you might still cry : "Where, 
where could the profit come in ? ” I need not say 
anything about whether the bulbs are good or other¬ 
wise, for most likely the bulk of my readers would 
not accept my words. But this I will point out ; that 
some of the most prominent horticulturists I know 
of in London were there and buying wholesale. 
They do this every season ; so that it would seem 
that things turn out all right with them. I was only 
there little over an hour, and how many bulbs of one 
kind and another do you think were bought in that 
time ? Seventy-six thousand, nine hundred and 
seventy-six (76,976). — G. JV. 
- .I»- 
BLUE FLOWERS OF SPRING. 
When everything is cold and gray or white, any¬ 
thing in the floral world other than these colours is 
looked upon with appreciation. Just as we have a 
regard for people whom we cannot fathom, or never 
seem to be able to calculate wholly, so it is with 
coloured flowers in spring. There is very, very little 
sunshine or heat. The warm soft showers, which 
even arouse action on our own cheeks when they fall 
on us in the month of April are absent though the 
cold snows and pelting blasts may be gone. And yet 
from out of the cold dark earth these bulbous plants 
have somehow or other—in a manner which we 
cannot fathom or clearly calculate—collected and 
elaborated water, and a few mineral salts, which they 
presently display in another form, some in beautiful 
yellow petals, some in mixtures of orange or red, and 
many expose themselves in blue colours. 
The bluest of the blue is Scilla sibirica. We 
should never say what our favourite flower is, for 
probably do real lover of flowers can have a special 
flower more cared for than any of the many 
thousands of others. Therefore, let us not commit 
ourselves here. 
For ribbon lines along the border, or for a pocket 
in the rockery, or by the margin of the lake or out 
upon the meadows an i lawns, this little plant is 
almost unique in its class. It only reaches a few 
inches in height at any time; but it is the intensity 
and depth of its small blue flowers that give it 
so much worth. It contrasts beautifully with Snow¬ 
drops. It was brought from Siberia in 1796. Given 
any moderately good soil and planted at this time, 
not more than 2% in. deep, no further care or trouble 
is really needed. The accompanying illustration 
(p. it), lent us by Messrs. Ed. Webb & Sons, 
Wordsiey, Stourbridge, gives a good idea of a clump 
of this beautiful blue Squill. 
Chionodoxa Luciliae is another grand blue 
spring-flowering bulb. Compilers ot catalogues 
generally liken it to Scilla sibirica and vice versa. So 
far as we can see they are quite distinct, and if every ‘ 
thing else could be distinguished so readily it would 
be pleasing. The culture of the “ Glory of the Snow' 
is, in common with all other fine spring bulbous 
plants, confined to the simple operation of plant 
Group of Butterfly or Mariposa Tulips (Calochorti). 
