General Notices. 415 



dens, (and which I intend to bring before the readers of the Journal,) ap- 

 pears to me to be explained thus : — They familiarly flourish in the humble 

 cottage gardens of the poor, (without whose industrious labor we cannot 

 subsist.) Yet, as I have already said, when properly attended to, dis- 

 persed and grouped, they are equally as appropriate for the decoration of 

 the queen's garden as the humble cottager's, and there readily display their 

 eastern splendor ; whilst many of our over-much admired tender exotic 

 plants, so eagerly sought after, and for which very high prices are paid, 

 show that they are, as the poet says, — 



"Borne from their genial native airs away 

 That scarcely can their tender bud display." 



We must admit that the hollyhock is not altogether adapted for the par- 

 terre, from its tall growth, yet, in many cases, it can be there with good 

 effect planted, more particularly when pegged down, as is in many cases 

 adopted with the dahlia. The most fit place for the hollyhock, and its 

 associate, the dahlia, is, unquestionably, in ihe borders of the shrubbery 

 and pleasure ground. It considerably adds to the beauty when they are so 

 placed as to appear emerging from amongst dwarf shrubs, so that the lower 

 parts of the stalks are not seen. When they require support, they should 

 have each a separate stick, for, when tied up in bundles, which is too often 

 the case, the flowers have not room to display their beauty, and the plant 

 assumes a stiff, unnatural appearance, instead of that careless freedom 

 which constitutes the beauty of plants. The poet, Moore, on this subject 

 says, — 



" Vet, in the wild disorder, art pervades, 

 Designs, corrects, and regulates the whole, 

 Herself the while unseen." 



To give full effect to the hollyhock, it should be planted in clumps, with 

 a single color in a clump, the effect of which is grand. For variety's 

 sake, the colors may be mixed, but the effect, in my opinion, is not so fine. 

 They must not be planted too near each other ; the tall ones in the centre, 

 and the dwarfer ones in front. In front of them should be planted the dif- 

 ferent varieties of fuchsia, and in front of them calceolarias, and geraniums, 

 mixed together, and pegged to the ground. 



Some years ago the hollyhock held a higher place in rural economy than 

 its mere beauty, as we find, in the year 1821, about 280 acres of land, near 

 Flint, in Wales, planted with the hollyhock, with a view of converting the 

 fibres of this plant into thread, similar to that of hemp or flax, for making 

 coarse cloth. In the process of manufacture, it was discovered that the 

 plant yields a fine blue dye, equal in beauty to the best indigo. 



The seeds should be gathered when ripe, and sown as soon as the season 

 will permit, in beds of light earth, from which the young plants must be 

 removed, and planted in rows a foot apart each way, care being taken to 

 keep them clear of weeds, and, if the season is dry, they should be watered 

 with a little manure-water. By very little care and attention, those that 

 are approved of will be fit to plant out the following spring, when they 



