Stock 



seedlings can be kept to the glass, the less will be the disposition to 

 become leggy. In transplanting to the open ground, it is worth 

 some trouble to induce each plant to carry a nice ball of soil attached 

 to its roots. 



On light, friable land, Ten-week Stocks can be successfully grown 

 from sowings made in the open about the end of April. The 

 character of the season must be some guide to the time chosen, and 

 the sowing in this case should be rather thicker than in the seed- 

 pans. Should the seed germinate well, severe thinning will have to 

 be practised as growth demands. This method of culture entirely 

 prevents loss by mildew, which so often proves fatal to young 

 transplanted seedlings. It is difficult to make the soil too good for 

 them, and there is no comparison between Stocks grown on a poor 

 border and those grown in luxuriance. Some growers make a little 

 trench for each row of seed, and this affords a certain degree of pro- 

 tection from cutting winds, and also forms a channel for water when 

 there is a necessity for administering it. In a showery season, the 

 plants will appear in about twelve days, but in dry weather it will be 

 longer, and one or more gentle morning waterings may be necessary 

 to bring them up. The distance between the rows must be determined 

 by the variety. Nine inches is sufficient for the dwarf sorts ; twelve 

 or fifteen inches will not be too much for medium and tall kinds. 



Slugs may be kept off by a dusting of soot or wood-ashes, and 

 some precaution must also be adopted to prevent birds from dis- 

 turbing the seed-bed. 



On a heavy soil it is next to useless to sow in the open, but with 

 a little management it will still be possible to grow good Stocks by 

 transplanting. Make a small hot-bed about the first week in April. 

 Let it settle down for a week, then cover with four to six inches of 

 the best soil at command. Upon this draw shallow drills six inches 

 apart. Sow in these drills and cover the seed with fine soil. Water 

 the whole bed gently, but thoroughly, with a fine rose. Half a 

 brick at each corner will support a common hurdle, covered with a 

 mat, to protect from inclement weather, either by night or day. But 

 do not keep this, or any other means of protection that may be 

 substituted for it, upon the bed for an unnecessary hour, for Stocks 

 should be grown as nearly hardy as possible. Before the plants are 

 ready for transferring to blooming quarters an attempt should be 

 made to reduce a stiff soil to a friable state. Where the plants are 

 to stand, cut small trenches, and fill them with any light soil enriched 

 with decayed manure. In these rows the Stocks will thrive, and 



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