Conservatoeies should be brilliant now with flowering-plants, and at no season of the year - not even during the summer - do flowers present such a bright and cheerful appearance. When the days are shortening fast, and assume their most dismal aspect, conservatories and other houses kept gay with flowering-plants are generally places of resort; and frequently much time is spent in these structures during the winter, especially by ladies. Under such circumstances it behoves gardeners to render them as attractive as possible. Cleanliness is of the utmost importance, and in such places even extra precautions should be taken; if dirty they cannot be enjoyable. The glass and woodwork should be clean, and not a green or dirty pot to be found. The stages on which flowering-plants are arranged should be gone over every morning when the watering is being attended to, and all sickly leaves and decaying flowers should be removed. These houses should be, by the time employers are ready to visit them, clean and beautiful.

If directions previously given in the 'Gardener' have been carried out, there will be no scarcity of flowers, but abundance, and in good variety.

Early and hard forcing of Azaleas, Camellias, Rhododendrons, and other plants, can be avoided, if a judicious system of preparation of suitable kinds has been carried out during the summer. However beautiful Azaleas may appear during the early autumn months when placed amongst other flowering-plants, it is not really necessary to have them in flower before Christmas, as plenty of others may be had in bloom, by which a brilliant and bountiful supply of flowers can be produced. It is wise to delay the forcing of such plants, if they can be spared, so as to give them as complete a season of rest as possible. A good plan is to train and prepare a few Azaleas in case any failure should occur in the growing of other easier subjects. If not wanted they can readily be retarded, and will afterwards, when placed in warmth, quickly unfold their flowers. In forcing Azaleas or Rhododendrons into bloom, the operation should be gradual, so as to excite them gently into activity, and then allow the flowers to expand under as cool conditions as the plants will bear without check or injury. When unfolded under such circumstances they not only possess better colour and substance, but last longer, both for decora tion and cutting.

Flowers generally are in great demand about Christmas - especially white ones, which are eagerly sought after at that festive season. Unfortunately we do not possess a good double white Pelargonium that will produce flowers freely at that time - in fact none of the varieties are of much service for either autumn or winter. I have tried P. candidissima pleno, Madame Baltet, Nymphe, and others : these are three of the best that can be grown in their season, but next to useless for the dark days of winter. If preference can be given to either, it is the last named. Double white Primulas are invaluable, and should be grown in quantity, as there is no comparison between the double and single forms for cutting purposes. White Azaleas are indispensable, and the following should be largely grown for the supply at Christmas : A. indica alba and A. narcissiflora, a beautiful semi-double flower, even earlier than the old white. Some cultivators imagine that A. indica alba has to be grown a long time before it will flower profusely on its own roots, but this is a mistake.

It will bloom splendidly in 5-inch pots - a capital size in which to grow it; but if potted on and allowed plenty of root-room, it will produce strong, long shoots, which are bare of leaves by the time it has rested or come into flower. This straggling habit can to a large extent be prevented, if kept in the size of pots mentioned, and pruned over once or twice after flowering. When worked on small stems this variety assumes a more compact head. The blooms are grand for using in many positions for church decoration, especially for furnishing the bases of windows. If green moss can be obtained, and the base covered with it, and the flowers dotted into it singly, and a drop of water placed in the centre of each flower, they remain fresher and last longer. It is not necessary to cut any wood with the flower, the tiny stem being sufficient.

For flowering at this season of the year Pelargoniums are amongst the most striking, and will, when properly treated, flower through the whole winter. Old Vesuvius is unrivalled for a profusion of flowers. Its trusses are considerably smaller than many others; but the freedom with which they are succession ally produced more than compensates for the deficiency. Many large-trussing kinds are very good, and give great satisfaction during the autumn. When gigantic conservatories have to be kept a blaze of bloom during the winter, and house-room for bringing the material into bloom is limited, selection is of the utmost value. My aim is to obtain plants that will bloom over the longest period of time, according to the temperature and other conditions that can be given. White Vesuvius is a good companion to the scarlet variety, and equally free here. Apple Blossom and Aida, which are very much alike - the flowers of the latter being a little more pink - are in consequence worth growing. The flowers of either variety individually would not please the florist "proper," for the petals are loose and anything but a good shape. They nevertheless answer our purpose, by flowering freely and continuously for a long time. The trusses are large and contrast well with the above.

Rev. S. Stanhope and Charles Schwind do well, and the stock will be increased. Sophie Birchin, a distinct mottled salmon flower of fine form and substance, does well under the same treatment as Vesuvius. Fanny Catlin and Laura Strachan are good salmons; but where the first-named is grown the latter can be dispensed with. Amongst pinks a variety named Harry Turner is the favourite - being a good-shaped flower, and the trusses are freely produced all winter. Arthur Pearson is free, and promises well; also Mrs Strutt - the flower being rather loose but very large. Mrs Skipworth, Lady Byron, Lady Sheffield, and Mrs Findley, are pleasing colours and fair flowers - a few plants only of each being grown. The semi-doubles are a most useful class - Wonderful being free and most worthy of extensive cultivation. Others have been recommended to me as being better; certainly Raspail makes a larger truss, and is of a much darker shade of colour, but lacks freeness. Guillon Mangilli is very fine for winter, and free, and should be grown in quantity. E. South is a better flower, and of a deeper colour, and is a grand companion plant. These two require more heat, and do not draw up weakly like other varieties : Wonderful soon draws and becomes straggling, if subjected to too much heat.

Madame Thibaut is a good pink double of dwarf habit, and flowers very freely during the early autumn months.

A few of the Hybrid Cape Pelargoniums, or Echinatums, should be grown for autumn and winter : they are beautiful for cutting and conservatory decoration, and are very easy to grow, being in no way particular either to soil or treatment. If treated in the same way as Zonal Pelargoniums they do remarkably well; and if potted up during March and placed in a little warmth, they flower through the whole summer and well on into winter. After flowering they can be placed under the stage and kept dry for a long time. When potted up, the old soil should be shaken from the roots and the plants placed in smaller pots, potting on afterwards as they require it. After they are fairly started they can either be grown indoors or outside, with the stock of Zonals for winter, until housing time. A little heat in autumn soon brings them into flower, and they continue to do so all winter. For button-hole bouquets or cutting, no plants are more serviceable.

Chrysanthemums will be gay until Christmas, if properly treated after the buds are formed, and late kinds selected and left outside longer than the general stock. The beauty of Souvenir de Malanche should be pressed upon the minds of all growers of these plants. For flowering from the end of October and through November, no other variety I am acquainted with can surpass it. Its flowers - which are of the purest white when fully expanded - and the freedom with which they are produced, recommend for it a foremost place. It will stand gentle forcing; but if housed as soon as the buds are formed, the plants will be in bloom about the middle of October. Its habit is dwarf, and it retains its foliage much better than any other kind that I know. When once grown, the white Cedo nulli would quickly be discarded. The flowers are much after the style of Elaine, and resemble in miniature that beautiful white variety. Wm. Bardney.