258 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



half-hardy perennials, with thick fusiform roots. These 

 plants are deservedly great favorites in gardens, where they 

 make towards autumn a splendid appearance. The branch- 

 ing stems bear roundish flowers with rather a long tube ; 

 and, as these come at every joint, when fairly open they cover 

 the plant. The individual blooms are in one respect like 

 the Convolvulus/ they shut up on dull days, so that it 

 is not a handsom" plant in bad weather. In some kinds, 

 the tubes of the flowers are two or three inches long ; in 

 others they are shorter. The colors vary from yellow to red, 

 white, and all shades between them, and sometimes two of 

 the colors are disposed in stripes. To have choice varieties, 

 sow the best seed that can be got, and select each year the 

 best that are produced, for seed-bearing. Sow the seed in a 

 hot-bed in March, and, as soon as the plants are large enough, 

 pot them three or four, or half a dozen, in a pot, to grow until 

 the middle of May, when they may be planted out in the 

 beds or borders a foot apart. Here they will only require 

 to be kept clear of weeds, and be watered in the event of 

 the weather proving more than usually parching, but not if 

 the weather be at all seasonable. The foliage will be 

 touched by the first frost, after which the roots may be dug 

 up, and stored away amongst dry sand, where the' frost can- 

 not reach them. In May, they may be put in the ground 

 where they are to flower, whether that be in beds or bor- 

 ders ; or, if any good ones are worth propagating, put them 

 in heat in March, and strike the shoots like those of the 

 Dahlia. To effect improvements, a few seeds from the very 

 best should be saved every year, and these plants are then 

 best grown in beds, as they can then be more readily exam- 

 ined, and the worthless ones destroyed. It is in the size, 

 colors, and markings of the flowers, that improvements are 

 chiefly to be effected. 



