30 THE FLORIST. 



of the sun is also beneficial, and in long- continued hot, dry weather 

 indispensable. 



As the plants progress towards bloom, they require regular atten- 

 tion in tying up, disbudding, tying the pods to prevent their burst- 

 ing, opening the calyx, carding, shading the opening pods from sun 

 and rain, dressing or arranging the petals as they expand, and keep- 

 ing them free from insects, green- fly, thrips, and earwigs ; but on 

 these points I need not enlarge. It has often struck me that it 

 would be very useful if the nursery-catalogues gave an intimation of 

 the number of blooms each variety will mature ; some may have three 

 pods left, whilst others should have but one. 



When the time for layering arrives, I hope to be able to offer a 

 few more words of advice on that necessary operation, and on the 

 autumn and winter treatment. Omicron. 



SEED-SOWING. 



Some twelve months ago, I had been transacting some business in a 



seed-shop at ■ ; and was just about to bid the proprietor good 



morning, when my attention was arrested by a gentleman who was 

 loudly and angrily addressing an assistant behind the counter ; and 

 I gathered from his discourse, that the cause of his displeasure was 

 the almost total failure of several kinds of seeds he had purchased 

 a few weeks previously at that estabHshment. " True," he remarked, 

 ** I had never dealt with you before, nor was my order an extensive 

 one; but I never dreamt that you would sell me old seeds, which 

 rotted in the soil, or merely vegetated and then damped off. My 



friend Captain , who recommended me, told me yesterday at 



dinner, that his seed had vegetated, and grown beautifully ; and I 

 know they were many of them of the same kind as my own. It is 

 therefore very evident that you keep two qualities of goods — one to 

 sell to your customers, as you call them, and one to strangers." 

 Now, when a man is thoroughly in anger, to reason with him is in 

 most cases an impossibility. The proprietor endeavoured to appease 

 him, and to inquire into the kind of treatment he had given his seeds ; 

 but all to no purpose ; he would hear no explanation. He expressed 

 in rather strong terms his belief that he had been cheated, demanded 

 his bill, paid it, and left the shop, under strong conviction that he 

 was an injured man. From the well-known character of the estab- 

 lishment, and from other facts, I believe that there was no just cause 

 of complaint. The fault had been not in the seeds, but in the treat- 

 ment ; and thousands of such unjust accusations are every season 

 hurled at the devoted heads of seedsmen in every part of the kingdom. 

 Recollect, I am not attempting to wholly excuse seedsmen when a 

 purchaser's seeds do not vegetate, because they are often no doubt 

 in fault, whether innocently or not I shall not stop to inquire ; but 

 I feel confident that, in very many instances, it is the treatment and 

 not the vitality of the seeds which is to be blamed. Nor do I intend 



