THE HOLLYHOCK. oie 
ently go into, because room for wintering is an object, but as they fill 
with roots they must be changed to larger sizes; when the plants fairly 
fill up a twelve-sized pot, they form very noble objects, and show a 
mass of bloom very desirable in an exhibition or a conservatory. Many 
put out the small parted plants into the border in front of a hot-house, 
to grow there till late in the autumn, and only pot them just in time 
for their winter quarters. The seeds, whether imported or saved in 
England, have to be sown in the spring in wide-mouthed pots, thinly 
scattered, and when large enough may be pricked out half-a-dozen in a 
pot, so as to be an inch and a half apart. In these pots they may be 
grown till they touch one another, when they may be potted singly in 
small pots, and be treated like the other plants, 
THE HOLLYHOCK. 
“¢ From the nectaries of Hollyhocks 
The humble bee, e’en till he faints will sip.” 
H. Smits. 
TuE cultivation of this magnificent Eastern plant is of great antiquity 
in this country. Its noble size, majestic height, and splendid flowers 
could not fail to attract the attention of our earliest collectors of exotic 
plants; and although we cannot state the time when the Hollyhock 
was first brought to this country, it was certainly much earlier than the 
date mentioned in the Hortus Kewensis, or other works on plants that 
we have been able to consult. Dr. Turner speaks of it as a familiar 
plant in his work, dated 24th June, 1564; and Gerard, in 1597, 
observes that it was then sown in gardens almost everywhere. 
The derivation of the English name of this flower may be traced to 
the Saxon language, the old name of Holyoak being the same as 
Holihec. 
Mortimer retains the old name of Holyocks for these plants in his 
work on husbandry, as late as the year 1707, wherein he says, 
“ Holyocks far exceed Poppies for their durableness, and are very 
ornamental.” Turner spells it Holyhock ; and Gerard, and after him 
Parkinson, calls it Hollihocke. 
The French, who consider this plant as a native of Syria, call it by 
several different names, as Rose trémiére, Rose d’outre mer, Rose de 
mer, Rose de Damas. 
Botanists have named it Alcea, from the Greek word Adxn, on account 
of its supposed medicinal strength in curing the dysentery, &c., for 
which it was formerly held in great repute. 
In floral Janguage the Hollyhock is figured as the symbol of fecundity, 
and its extreme fruitfulness seems to justify the device. 
It grows naturally in various eastern parts of the globe, and is 
common in China, from whence the seeds of the tall as well as the 
dwarf Hollyhock were frequently received. Pliny speaks of this flower 
in the fourth chapter of his twenty-first book, where he describes it as 
a Rose growing on stalks like the Mallow; and Miller says he received 
seeds of the plant from Istria, where it was gathered in the fields; but 
