506 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Stipules—continued. 
detected. They are very constantly present in certain 
classes of plants; hence, their presence and their nature 
afford important characters in the definition of many 
natural orders. In many orders, they are not constantly 
met with, and in many others do not occur at all. 
7 Z 
Fig. 541. FLOWER-HEAD AND LEAF OF MIMOSA PUDICA, showing 
Stipules metamorphosed into Spines. 
Occasionally, e.g., Mimosa (see Fig. 541), they are meta- 
morphosed into spines. 
STIRPS. A race, or permanent variety; e.g., the 
Red Cabbage. 
STITCHWORT, or STITCH GRASS. See Stel- 
Ammen ree kes A synonym of Mucuna (which 
see). 
STOBZA. Included under Berkheya. 
STOCK. The portion of a stem to which a graft is 
applied 38 caudex, rhizome, or root-like base of a stem, 
from which roots proceed; the term is also used to denote 
a race. 
CAPE. A common name for Heliophila 
(which see). i 
STOCKS (Mathiola). Stocks are well-known and 
very popular plants with every class of cultivators, 
because of their beauty for flowering in pots and in 
the open border, and of the sweet perfume which their 
flowers emit. There are several distinct classes or types, 
all of which have been greatly improved, in course of 
time, by florists and seedsmen in this country and on the 
Continent. The different types may readily be divided 
into Summer and Winter Stocks, the former embracing 
the whole of the Ten-weeks varieties, and the latter the 
Brompton, East Lothian, and Intermediate types. 
oS The greater portion of the Ten-week Stock seed is 
imported annually from the Continent, in spring. It 
is well to divide the supply, and sow a part towards the 
end of March, and the rest during April; the least heat 
from fermenting material is of great help in assisting 
and hastening germination. So soon as the seedlings 
appear above ground, plenty of air must be given during 
favourable weather, and water should be carefully applied, 
as damping and mildew generally prove very destructive 
sources of evil. If either commence an attack, the best 
thing is to prick off all the uninjured plants, about 3in. 
apart, in new soil, Advantage should be taken to 
transfer Stocks from a frame into the open border during 
showery weather; it cannot be done very success- 
fully at any other time, unless the plants have been 
Stocks—continued. 
prepared in small pots. The soil for Stocks can scarcely be 
too rich; it should, therefore, be well dug and manured; 
and a top-dressing of leaf mould or short manure is also 
of great benefit in affording nourishment, and pre- 
venting evaporation during dry weather. Summer Stocks 
are not generally grown in pots; they form good beds 
outside, when the plants succeed, and their flowers are 
excellent for cutting. 
Of Winter Stocks, the most extensively cultivated are 
the Intermediate and the East Lothian Intermediate; 
the latter succeeds well in Scotland. The Brompton 
Stocks are very vigorous; they flower about May and 
June, and the seed should be sown nearly a year in 
advance, or not later than the early part of July. It 
is always safer to preserve a quantity of plants in cold 
frames during winter, than to place them outside; they 
usually suffer more from excessive moisture than from 
cold. Stocks intended for flowering in pots, should be 
inserted singly, in small thumbs, early in autumn, and 
plunged in ashes, in a cold frame. When sufficiently 
established, and in need of more space, they should be 
transferred into 5in. pots; this is generally done late 
in autumn, or early in the following spring, when 
the double and single-flowered plants can be distin- 
guished from each other. The Intermediate and East 
Lothian varieties should be selected for cultivating in 
pots in preference to the Brompton; they have a branch- 
ing yet compact habit, and flower profusely. The soil 
used for potting should be of a loamy description, 
with nearly one-fourth of sifted old mortar intermixed. 
When the plants are growing, plenty of water is re- 
quisite, and manure water is of great help when the 
flower-buds are developing. Stocks kept in frames 
through winter, for planting into outside borders, should 
be transferred to their permanent quarters during March, 
or as soon afterwards as the weather is considered 
favourable for their well-being. 
Saving Seed for Producing Double Flowers. The fol- 
lowing remarks are extracted from the appendix to Dr. M. 
T. Masters’ classical work, “ Vegetable Teratology,’ pub- 
lished by the Ray Society in 1869. The reader is also 
referred to a leading article in the ‘‘ Gardeners’ Chronicle,” 
1866, p. 74, and to a separate work by Mons. E. Chaté, 
“ Traité des Girofiées.” The last-named author observes 
that the gardeners of Erfurt “have, for a long time, to a 
certain extent, monopolised the sale of seeds of these 
plants. To obtain these seeds, the Erfurt gardeners cul- 
tivate the flowers in pots, and place them on shelves, 
in large greenhouses, giving them only sufficient water 
to prevent them from dying. So cultivated, the plants 
become weakened, the pods shortened, and the seeds less 
numerous, and better ripened ; and these seeds give from 
sixty to seventy per cent. of double flowers. The seeds 
from these plants are said to be mostly of an abnormal 
shape, which is so striking that experienced cultivators 
are able to separate those which would furnish double 
flowers from those which would produce single ones.” 
M. Chaté’s method, which he calls the French one, gives 
still greater results, viz.: eighty per cent. of double flowers, 
and these produced by very simple means. “ When my 
seeds,” he observes, “have been chosen with care, I plant 
them, in the month of April, in good dry mould, in a posi- 
tion exposed to the morning sun, this position being the 
most favourable. At the time of flowering, I nip off some 
of the flowering branches, and leave only ten or twelve 
pods on the secondary branches, taking care to remove all 
the small weak branches which shoot at this time. I 
leave none but the principal and secondary branches to 
bear the pods. All the sap is employed in nourishing the 
seeds thus borne, which give a result of eighty per cent. of 
double flowers. The pods, under this management, are 
thicker, and their maturation is more perfect. At the time 
of extracting the seeds, the upper portion of the pod is 
