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Rh Hillingdon and Uxbridge, and in some gardens daffodils and roses occupy alternate rows. In this district also such flowers as herbaceous paeonies, Spanish irises, German irises, Christmas roses, lilies of the valley, chrysanthemums, foxgloves, hollyhocks, wallflowers, carnations, &c., are extensively grown in many market gardens. South of London is the Mitcham country, long noted for its production of lavender. The incessant growth of the lavender plant upon the same land, however, has led to the decline of this industry, which has been largely transferred to districts in the counties of Bedford, Essex and Hertford. At Mitcham, nevertheless, mixed flowers are very largely grown for the supply of the metropolis, and one farm alone has nearly 100 acres under flowers and glass-houses. Chrysanthemums, asters, Iceland poppies, gaillardias, pansies, bedding calceolarias, zonal pelargoniums and other plants are cultivated in immense quantities. At Swanley and Eynsford, in Kent, flowers are extensively cultivated in association with fruit and vegetables. Narcissi, chrysanthemums, violets, carnations, campanulas, roses, pansies, irises, sweet peas, and many other flowers are here raised, and disposed of in the form both of cut flowers and of plants.

The Scilly Isles are important as providing the main source of supply of narcissi to the English markets in the early months of the year. This trade arose almost by accident, for it was about the year 1865 that a box of narcissi sent to Covent Garden Market, London, realized £1; and the knowledge of this fact getting abroad, the farmers of the isles began collecting wild bulbs from the fields in order to cultivate them and increase their stocks. Some ten years, however, elapsed before the industry promised to become remunerative. In 1885 a Bulb and Flower Association was established to promote the industrial growth of flowers. The exports of flowers in that year reached 65 tons, and they steadily increased until 1893, when they amounted to 450 tons. A slight decline followed, but in 1896 the quantity exported was no less than 514 tons. This would represent upwards of 3½ million bunches of flowers, chiefly narcissi and anemones. Rather more than 500 acres are devoted to flower-growing in the isles, by far the greater part of this area being assigned to narcissi, whilst anemones, gladioli, marguerites, arum lilies, Spanish irises, pinks and wallflowers are cultivated on a much smaller scale. The great advantage enjoyed by the Scilly flower-growers is earliness of production, due to climatic causes; the soil, moreover, is well suited to flower culture and there is an abundance of sunshine. The long journey to London is somewhat of a drawback, in regard to both time and freight, but the earliness of the flowers more than compensates for this. Open-air narcissi are usually ready at the beginning of January, and the supply is maintained in different varieties up to the middle or end of May. The narcissus bulbs are usually planted in October, 4 in. by 3 in. apart for the smaller sorts and 6 in. by 4 to 6 in. for the larger. A compost of farmyard manure, seaweed, earth and road scrapings is the usual dressing, but nitrate of soda, guano and bones are also occasionally employed. A better plan, perhaps, is to manure heavily the previous crop, frequently potatoes, no direct manuring then being needed for the bulbs, these not being left in the ground more than two or three years. The expenses of cultivation are heavy, the cost of bulbs alone—of which it requires nearly a quarter of a million of the smaller varieties, or half as many of the largest, to plant an acre—being considerable. The polyanthus varieties of narcissus are likely to continue the most remunerative to the flower-growers of Scilly, as they flourish better in these isles than on the mainland.

In the district around the Wash, in the vicinity of such towns as Wisbech, Spalding and Boston, the industrial culture of bulbs and flowers underwent great expansion in the period between 1880 and 1909. At Wisbech one concern alone has a farm of some 900 acres, devoted chiefly to flowers and fruit, the soil being a deep fine alluvium. Roses are grown here, one field containing upwards of 100,000 trees. Nearly 20 acres are devoted to narcissi, which are grown for the bulbs and also, together with tulips, for cut flowers. Carnations are cultivated both in the field and in pots. Cut flowers are sent out in large quantities, neatly and effectively packed, the parcel post being mainly employed as a means of distribution. In the neighbourhood of Spalding crocuses and snowdrops are less extensively grown than used to be the case. On one farm, however, upwards of 20 acres are devoted to narcissi alone, whilst gladioli, lilies and irises are grown on a smaller scale. Around Boston narcissi are also extensively grown for the market, both bulbs and cut blooms being sold. The bulbs are planted 3 in. apart in rows, the latter being 9 in. apart, and are allowed to stand from two to four years.

The imports of fresh flowers into the United Kingdom were not separately shown prior to 1900. In that year, however, their value amounted to £200,585, in 1901 to £225,011, in 1906 to £233,884, in 1907 to £233,641, and in 1908 to £229,802, so that the trade showed a fairly steady condition. From the monthly totals quoted in Table VI. it would appear that the trade sinks to its minimum dimensions in the four months July to October inclusive, and that after September the business continually expands up to April, subsequent to which contraction again sets in. About one-half of the trade belongs practically to the three months of February, March and April.

Hothouse Culture of Fruit and Flowers.—The cultivation of fruit and flowers under glass has increased enormously since about the year 1880, especially in the neighbourhood of London, where large sums of money have been sunk in the erection and equipment of hothouses. In the parish of Cheshunt, Herts, alone there are upwards of 130 acres covered with glass, and between that place on the north and London on the south extensive areas of land are similarly utilized. In Middlesex, in the north, in the districts of Edmonton, Enfield, Ponders End and Finchley, and in the west from Isleworth to Hampton, Feltham, Hillingdon, Sipson and Uxbridge, many crops are now cultivated under glass. At Erith, Swanley, and other places in Kent, as also at Worthing, in Sussex, glass-house culture has much extended. A careful estimate puts the area of industrial hothouses in England at about 1200 acres, but it is probably much more than this. Most of the greenhouses are fixtures, but in some parts of the kingdom structures that move on rails and wheels are used, to enable the ground to be prepared in the open for one crop while another is maturing under glass. The leading products are grapes, tomatoes and cucumbers, the last-named two being true fruits from the botanist’s point of view, though commercially included with vegetables. To these may be added on the same ground dwarf or French beans, and runner or climbing beans. Peaches, nectarines and strawberries are largely grown under glass, and, in private hothouses—from which the produce is used mainly for household consumption, and which are not taken into consideration here—pineapples, figs and other fruit. Conservative estimates indicate the average annual yield of hothouse grapes to be about 12 tons per acre and of tomatoes 20 tons. The greater part of the space in the hothouses is assigned to fruit, but whilst some houses are devoted exclusively to flowers, in others, where fruit is the main object, flowers are forced in considerable quantities in winter and early spring. The flowers grown under glass include tulips, hyacinths, primulas, cyclamens, spiraeas, mignonettes, fuchsias,