THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 243 



Curled and Batavian Endive ought to be sown the second week. 

 Also Walclieren Cauliflower, and Brown Cos and Hammersmith 

 Lettuce for standing over the winter in frames. It is also worth 

 while to plant a few of these at the foot of a south wall, for in mild 

 winters they will stand uninjured, aud be useful in the spring. 

 There is nothing new in the dates specified for sowing the above- 

 mentioned vegetables, but as many amateurs are at a loss to know 

 the right moment for doing so, I have added them to these few 

 notes, with the hope that they may be useful. 



POLYANTHUS CULTURE, IN POTS AND THE OPEN 



BORDER. 



BY J. JAMES, 

 Head Gardener to W. Watson, Esq., Isleworth. 



SHE inducement is great to say a few words about these 

 beautiful gems. For all lovers of them hope that some 

 means may be found to restore them to the favour they 

 so thoroughly deserve, but which they have mysteriously 

 lost. At present they are not grown and appreciated 

 as they should be, considering the extreme beauty of the flowers 

 and their comparative inexpensiveness and simplicity of management. 

 Where pot culture is practised, the assistance of a cold frame will 

 be necessary for a few months previous to the flowering season ; 

 but when the cultivator is content with them in the open border, a 

 grand collection may be grown without the aid of an inch of glass, 

 or a shilling expense beyond that expended in the purchase of a little 

 manure and the rent of the ground occupied. At one time the 

 Polyanthus was very popular, and the flowers had attained a state of 

 perfection almost unknown to us, for a long season of neglect has 

 occasioned the loss of the splendid named varieties formerly in exist- 

 ence. This, however, can be easily remedied by a close application 

 to the rules necessary to produce first-class flowers of the florist's 

 type ; for though we cannot bring back the dead to life, we can raise 

 varieties that will equal, if not surpass, those which used to gladden 

 the hearts of the florists of former days. 



In dealing with the cultural details — which happily are exceed- 

 ingly simple — we will take the pot culture first. We will suppose 

 that only the best varieties are "to be grown this way, and that the 

 cultivator has possession of seed sufficiently choice to be worth more 

 trouble than that incurred in merely sowing it in the open border. 

 Here, we sow the seed as soon after it is ripe as convenient, but it 

 may be sown early in the spring. It is of course necessary to sow 

 early in the summer, if the spring season is lost, to enable the plants 

 to get strong by winter. Our seed is sown in ordinary seed-pans or 

 boxes, and placed in a frame with a north aspect. This I have 

 found to be the best position for them, as it gives the young plants 

 full exposure to the light directly they peep through the soil, without 



