December 5, 1908. 
THE HARDENING WORLD. 
751 
Sitting-Room Gardening. Chrys anthemum 
Indoor Bulb Culture. 
Merstham White. 
With a little forethought and a careful 
election of bulbs, we may have our 
:00ms gaily decorated from Christmas to 
Easter with beautiful fragrant flowers, 
some growing in glasses, others in lovely 
roloured bowls of various shapes which 
idd greatly to the charm of the flowers. 
The white Roman Hyacinths will fill 
:he rooms with a delicate perfume 
:hrough the month of January, and the 
Paper White Narcissus will be in har- 
wony with them. Snowdrops, Crocus, 
and that sweetly pretty blue Squill 
Scilla siberica) will follow on. Then 
;omes the Narcissus; such varieties as 
Golden Spur, Princeps, Emperor, Hors- 
fieldii, Mrs. W. T. Ware, Chinese 
Sacred, and the double Daffodil have 
lovely flowers and are easily grown. 
Hyacinths with their stately spikes of 
flower make a grand display, and there 
is a great variety to choose from. The 
singles always give the best results for 
indoor gardening, and some of the best 
are La Grandesse, Mont Blanc, En¬ 
chantress, L’lnnocence, Garibaldi, King 
of the Blues, Grand Lilas, Countess of 
Rosebery, and Ruby Queen. Tulips 
come next, with very brilliant colours, 
they seem to adapt themselves to the 
sitting-room ; both double and single are 
easily grown. Some of the prettiest 
singles are Keizerkroon, Chrysolora, 
Yellow Prince, Dussart, White Potte- 
bakker, Maes, Proserpine, and Van der 
Neer. Among the doubles Mauve Queen, 
Tournesol, Murillo, Rose Blanche and 
Rex Rubrorum are the best. Orna¬ 
mental bowls, pans and glasses can be 
purchased at most earthenware stores, 
where there is generally some beautiful 
patterns and shapes to choose from. 
•Drainage is essential for successful 
culture; bricks broken fine and charcoal 
form the best material. Place about an 
inch of this in the bottom, and cover with 
a thin layer of moss. 
Soil. —Several different opinions are 
prevalent as to what is the best material 
for growing the bulbs in. A great many 
use Sphagnum Moss, others prefer 
shingle; but after repeated trials I have 
had the best results from bricks broken 
very fine, also charcoal, well decayed 
leaf-mould and coarse sand, used in pro¬ 
portions thus : two parts leaf-mould, one 
part broken brick and charcoal, and one 
part coarse sand. This forms a very 
porous and sweet compost, which is es¬ 
sential for this kind of gardening. 
When moss only is used it seems to get 
I sour before the bulbs reach perfection, 
causing some of them to come blind. 
Shingle does not form a good rooting 
material, being much too hard and 
smooth also non-porous. It will be 
found on inspection that the rubble and 
1 charcoal have a quantity of rootlets 
clinging to them, but very few, if any, 
1 will be found on the shingle, although 
1 strong roots ramble between the pebbles. 
There is a prepared fibre on the market 
for growing bulbs in, and it makes a 
good substitute when other material is 
not available. 
Punting the Bulbs. —Fill the bowls 
or pans about half full of the prepared 
soil; do not press it. Place the bulbs on 
this, and gently press them in. A good 
rule to observe in planting is to allow a 
quarter of an mch between the bulbs; 
nothing is gained by cramming them in. 
Fill up between them till level with the 
top of the bulbs, and gently press to 
make firm. Hyacinth glasses must be 
filled with pure rain water if possible, 
and the bulbs must only just touch it. 
General Culture. —Place all bowls 
and glasses away in a dark cupboard 
after they are filled. Let them stay 
there for five weeks, after which they may 
be gradually brought towards the light. 
Keep an eye on them at all times to see 
they do not get dry; when they are, soak 
them in tepid water. Hyacinths, Tulips, 
and Narcissus flowers will need a little 
support, very slight pieces of Bamboo 
being the best for this purpose. I might 
add that the miniature Hyacinth and 
Due van Thol Tulips are easily grown, 
but the flowers are inferior to those 
above. 
H. W. 
-- 
Single Chrysanthemum W. Buckingham. 
The blooms of this variety are of a 
beautiful pink and attain a width of 4 in. 
when disbudded. First-class Certificate 
by the N.C.S., when shown by Messrs. 
J. Peed and Son, West Norwood, S.E. 
Chrysanthemums for garden and home 
decoration are becoming gradually more 
popular. They are of the easiest culti¬ 
vation when grown for this purpose, and 
as cut flowers are desired in the home in 
large quantities, a few plants well repay 
for the little trouble and care which they 
require. Single Chrysanthemums are 
peculiarly light and graceful when 
selected with due care by eliminating all 
those that are lacking in finish, beauti¬ 
ful colours and lasting powers. 
The accompanying illustration shows a 
recently raised variety that might be 
described as belonging to the smaller 
size of singles. When the shoots are 
slightly disbudded so as to leave one 
bloom at the end of each shoot, the 
blooms measure 2 in. in diameter. The 
rays are made up of several rows of beau¬ 
tiful recurving florets that never look 
heavy nor ragged. The flowers are 
naturally very regular, although the rays 
do not lie flat upon one another, but 
make a light and elegant flower, such as 
is often required in home decoration. 
We regard this as one of the prettiest and 
best for this sort of work of a number 
which recently reached us from Messrs. 
W. Wells and Co-., Ltd., Merstham, 
Surrey, who have been instrumental in 
raising a large number of very choice 
single' Chrysanthemums. 
Chrysanthemum Merstham White. [ Maciaren and Sons. 
