STOCKS MATHIOLA. 



487 



STOCKS MATHIOLA. 



tion of its bloom, make it invaluable for 

 flower beds and borders, for edgings, 

 ribbons, and pot-culture. 



The Ten-week Stock (Mathiola annud) 

 is the most universally cultivated. It is so 

 called because it usually blooms ten or 



DOUBLE TEN WEEK STOCK. 



twelve weeks after being sown, grows from 

 6 to 15 inches high, and when cultivated 

 in rich soil and occasionally watered with 

 very weak guano-water, throws out an 

 immense quantity of lateral spikes of 

 bloom, so that a plant forms a perfect 

 bouquet : it would indeed be very difficult 

 to surpass the grand effect produced by 

 these exquisite floral gems. 



The Imperial or Emperor, sometimes 

 called Perpetual Stocks, are half-hardy 

 biennials, hybrids of the Brompton, grow- 

 ing 18 inches high, and of a robust branch- 

 ing habit. Sown in March or April, they 

 make splendid "autumn-flowering stocks, ' 

 and form a valuable succession to the sum- 

 mer-blooming varieties. Should the winter 

 prove mild, they will continue flowering to 

 Christmas. Sown in June or July, they 

 flower the following June, and continue 

 blooming through the summer and autumn 

 months. 



The Brompton and Giant Cape are gene- 



rally called winter stocks, on account of 

 their not flowering the first year : the 

 former is robust and branching, the latter 

 possesses the characteristic so much 

 esteemed by some, viz., an immense 

 pyramidal spike of bloom. These are 

 half-hardy biennials. The seed should 

 be sown early in May in a light sandy 

 border with an eastern aspect. It succeeds 

 best sown thinly in drills about 6 inches 

 apart. As soon as the plants show their 

 second leaves they should be watered every 

 evening with a fine rose pot. When alxnit 

 three inches high they should be thinned 

 out to at least 6 inches apart and the other 

 plants removed to another bed. In about 

 a month's time they should be thinned 

 again and the alternate rows taken up, so 

 as to leave the remaining plants about a 

 foot apart every way. These may be 

 suffered to flower where they stand, or 

 they may be transplanted to the flower- 

 borders in August or September. Great 



BROMPTON STOCK. 



care is necessary in transplanting not to 

 expose the roots, and the new soil should 

 be of the richest description possible. 

 The plants will require shading till they 

 are established, and watering with liquid 

 manure till they begin to flower. Thus 

 treated the flowers will be splendid. 



