416 General Notices. 



will produce their pyramids of countless hues. Those intended for fine 

 bloomers sliould not be allowed to ripen their seeds the previous year, as 

 by so doing the plant is very much weakened, and the flowers only prove a 

 disappointment. 



I trust the above remarks maybe the means of bringing this beautiful, 

 but much neglected plant once more before the careful attention of the Brit- 

 ish horticulturist. 



At this busy season of the year, when transplanting, filling up vacancies, 

 making new arrangements, grouping, and many other necessary altera- 

 tions, to give effect in the flower-garden and shrubbery borders, are going 

 on, it may be well to mention, that few plants, if any, of the same hardi- 

 ness and habit, are capable of producing such a noble appearance, when 

 planted en masse, as the hollyhock. Those who have seen them occupying 

 situations suited to their habit of growth, and planted in soil adapted to 

 their wants — producing, (as they do when properly treated,) large globe- 

 shaped flowers, fully as large as the majority of dahlias, higher in the 

 centre, and very full of petals, and embracing quite as great a variety of 

 color — can only form any just conception of the agreeable appearance they 

 are capable of producing. A great error is committed by many in planting 

 the noble hollyhock to fill up any open vacancies about the shrubberies, 

 without the least regard being paid to the nature of the soil in which they 

 are to be planted. To have these plants produce any thing like the quan- 

 tity and quality of flowers they are capable of producing under good man- 

 agement, and to retain their freshness and healthiness of appearance, they 

 ought not to be planted in any confined situation, where they would be- 

 come "drawn," or grow weaker than they are naturally inclined to do if 

 planted in a bed in the open ground. Neither is a gravelly soil, or subsoil, 

 unless the soil has been lately moved to a good depth, and is capable of 

 supplying them with plenty of good nourishment, suitable for the succulent 

 nature of these plants, and the large size to which they attain in the course 

 of a season, makes it self-evident that they require a great deal of moisture 

 to keep them in proper trim, that is, retaining their foliage, and producing 

 side branches all round the principal leaders, giving to each plant a graceful 

 pyramidal form. — {Gard. Jour., 1848, pp. 324, 325.) 



Forcing the Rose. — Suppose we go to the flower-markets for forced 

 roses, we invariably find them very much drawn ; the shoots weakly, the 

 stems unable to support the flowers ; these have no sooner done flowering 

 than they are almost worthless, and why 1 Because they have been vio- 

 lently forced. They have been grown in the open ground until the very 

 season they are required to be put out of their way ; they are necessarily 

 forced violently, have to do four or five months' work in two months, and, 

 consequently, cannot do it so well. They cannot in two months' driving 

 grow so strong as when they have their natural time to do it in ; they are 

 every way depreciated ; but let us do the forcing as it should be done, and 

 they will grow as strong and as full of bloom, and be as ready to be forced 

 again seven years running, and improve every year, as if they were in 

 their own open ground. The truth is, that roses want two, if not three. 



