N ombM 20, 1878. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



399 



eveu to the quick ; and I have fouud it an excellent precaution 

 before planting to have a puil of water at hand, and thoroughly 

 to watli the old soil away from the roots before planting them 

 in their new situation, and an addition of lime to the water 

 tends to check the spread of this gangrene. 



EAISIXG SEEDLIXOa. 



The best time to sow the seed is immediately after it is ripe. 

 This will be in the latter end of June and early in July. It is 

 not advisable to be later than the lirst week of the latter, especi- 

 ally if it is intended that 

 the plants are to bloom 

 in the following spring. 



The seed may be sown 

 either in pans or boxes 

 nnder glass in a pit or 

 frame, or in a bed in the 

 open air. If the latter, 

 choose a shady spot 

 where the soil is Ught 

 and easily worked fine, 

 and after preparing it by 

 digging, and raking till 

 the surface is fine and 

 mellow, scatter the seed 

 thinly over the surface 

 and pass the rake over it 

 with a very light hand, 

 so that the seed will not 

 be covered more than a 

 quarter of an inch. If 

 the weather continue dry 

 give occasional waterings 

 with a tine-rosed water- 

 ing-pot, eKough to keep 

 the surface moist with- 

 out causing it to ca'ce. 

 Tho plants will soon be 

 np, and the only caro 

 they require is to keep 

 them free of weeds. As 

 soou as they have got 

 four leaves and can be 

 easily liandled they are 

 to be pricked-out about 

 3 inches apart on a bed 

 prepared for the purpose, 

 and before the beginning 

 of winter they will have 

 grown to a good size, so 

 that in tho spring they 

 may be removed and 

 planted where they are 

 intended to flower, which 

 they will do during the 

 current summer. 

 If the seed is not sown at 

 the time indicated above, 

 it may be done at tho be- 

 ginning of February in 

 pans or boxes, which are 

 to be placed in a gentle 

 hotbed. When the plants 

 are large enough they are 

 to bo pricked-out and Oallis 



treated in the same way 



as I have described for those raised in the open air. These, if 

 well grown, will mostly llower in autumn, and will have become 

 very strong plants before the succeeding spring. 



When planted out where they are intended to llower they 

 ought, according to tho soil, to be from to 9 inches apart. 

 On my soil, where they grow so strong, I am obliged to adopt 

 tho hitter, for if placed at less distance they overcrowd each 

 other; but in ordinary garden soil C inches will bo enough. 



SELECTION OF VABrETIES. 



When tho blooming season has commenced then is the time 

 to make .selections of those that are to be preserved, for no 

 matter how carefully the seed may have been selected, it will 

 be found that some of the plants produced will be so inferior 

 to the others, that it will be necessary to weed them out. 



In making the selection, the first point the strict florist 



directs his attention to is to see which of the flowers have 

 thrum and which pin eyep. Those which are called thrum- 

 eyed flowers have the throat closed by the anthers, which 

 ai'e set round the top of the tube of the corolla, the pistil 

 being so short as not to be visible. This form has been 

 called by botanists hrcvhtijla. The pin-eyed flowers have 

 the throat closed by the stigma, the pistil being as long 

 as the tube of the corolla, and sometimes much longer, and 

 this form the botanists call longhtijla. 



The thium eyes are those to which prize florists give greater 



preference. No matter 

 how well formed or high- 

 ly coloured a pin-eyed 

 variety may be, it meets 

 with no favour in the 

 ej'es of the prize florist. 

 But those who are not so 

 fastidious, and who ad- 

 mire a flower for its 

 beauty, take little heed 

 of the prize florists' dis- 

 tinction. Still, if the se- 

 lection is to be a rigid 

 one, the first choice is 

 to pick out those with 

 thrum eyes. The next 

 point to be attended to 

 is that the scape or stem 

 be sufticiently stout to 

 support the umbel of 

 flowors unaided. The 

 footstalks of the indi- 

 vidual flowers should 

 have the same property, 

 being short and propor- 

 tionately stout, Eo as to 

 sustain the flowers in an 

 erect position. And the 

 flower itself should bo 

 large, round, and flat, 

 and if possible with six 

 lobes in the limb of tho 

 corolla, the colours clear, 

 and, if more than one, 

 distinct and decided, not 

 blending one into tho 

 other, unless where there 

 are two shades of the 

 same colour. Another 

 important quality which 

 ought not to be over- 

 looked, is the abundance 

 of bloom and its long 

 continuance. 



These characteristics 

 which I have set down 

 relate only to what may 

 be called border flowers, 

 and have no reference 

 whatever to those pro- 

 perties which the prize 

 florists have fixed as tho 

 necessary requirements 

 of prize or stage flowers. 

 But although the strict 

 florist is BO particular 

 about all being thrum eyes, there is no reason why tho 

 lover of flowers for their beauty should be so restricted in 

 his selection. We have seen many very beautiful varieties 

 with pin eyes excelling in size, form, and colour those with 

 thrum eyes, and always failed to see any reasonable ground for 

 discarding them mei'elv because the prize florists set up an 

 opposite standard of choice. In the case of prize flowers, prize 

 florists may enact such rules and laws as their fancy suggests ; 

 but the true florist, ho who loves flowers for their natural love- 

 liness, and not for their development of any particular points, 

 needs not to be restricted by any such rules, but nuiy please 

 his taste in whatever ho considers most beautiful, and which 

 to him seems most ornamental. — Philantiios. 



Election op Roses. — In looking over the returns of the 

 election of new Roses, I find, to my astonishment, that Mar 



