HOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 245 



in no other flower, to my knowledge, while the shades of salmon, 

 crushed strawberry and old gold, are almost new, among flowers. 

 Chater's twelve separate colors show how many different hues and 

 shades can be produced in the double varieties alone, saying noth- 

 ing of the old single varieties and the variegated and fringed 

 Japanese. 



As to the culture, it is easy. Sow the seeds in the spring in good 

 rich soil about half an inch deep. After the young plants are an 

 inch or two high thin out or transplant (and they are almost as 

 easily transplanted as cabbages) to six or eight inches apart. 

 Then in September or early October, or early the following spring, 

 set them where they are to remain, in a sunny position, in rich soil 

 at least two feet apart. I have never seen well mixed soil too 

 rich for them. The plants will take a good quantity of water 

 provided they are soaked when they are watered, they should not 

 be watered too often but thoroughly soaked when they are watered. 

 I have raised them for several seasons, and carried them through 

 all sorts of winters, and have never found any trouble in wintering 

 them ; always taking care not to set them out in a hollow place in 

 the garden where the water could accumulate and freeze around 

 the roots, and covering them through the winter with a light cov- 

 ering of coarse litter, generally the dead stalks of other flowers and 

 leaves. The covering should be so light as not to exclude all air. 

 My experience is that most persons cover their rose bushes and 

 hollyhocks too heavily, thereby excluding all air ; and then un- 

 cover them too early in the spring. A light covering of coarse 

 litter kept on until the alternate freezings and thawings of spring 

 are over, is the best in my judgment. While the plants should be 

 well protected from the cold, all air should not be excluded, and 

 stable manure, which often "burns" should rarely be used as a 

 winter covering for plants. I think there are many rose bushes 

 and hardy plants in the gardens of Minnesota to-day which will 

 safely pass through the coldest Minnesota winter weather, but 

 which will perish from a too early uncovering in the months of 

 April and May. I believe an injudicious uncovering of plants in 

 the spring has caused more hav.oc and destruction among plants 

 than the coldest weather. When the hollyhocks are uncovered in 

 the spring, the roots of the oldest and largest can be divided into 

 two or more plants and transplanted elsewhere. The weeds of 

 course, should be kept out and the plants tied to stakes when two 

 or three feet high. If a caterpillar like worm appears on them in 

 June, as is quite frequenntly the case, they should be picked off 

 by hand and destroyed. This is easily done as these worms always 

 remain on the leaves and eat lorge holes through them, and are 

 very easily seen at a single glance. 



As to seeds, I observe the same rule with hollyhocks as with 

 other flowers, namely, not to allow seed pods to form, but to cut 

 flowers at all times freely, and to destroy seed pods when I see 

 them forming. I buy the very best seeds obtainable, and never 

 try to raise my own seed. There are reliable seedsmen, who make 

 a specialty of seed raising, and it is very poor economy, in my 



