ALTH.^A. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



419 



however, if fine flowers are desired, to 

 plant young plants every year, as one 

 would Dahlias, putting them 3 ft. apart 

 in rows at least 4 ft. apart ; or if grouped 

 in beds, not less than 3 ft t apart. In May 

 or June, when the spikes have grown i ft. 

 high, thin them out according to the 

 strength of the plant, if well established 

 and strong, leaving four spikes, and if 

 weak two or three. When for exhibition, 

 leave only one spike, and to get fine 

 blooms cut off .the side shoots, thin the 

 flower buds if crowded together, and 

 remove the top of the spike, according to 

 the height desired, taking into considera- 

 tion the usual height and habit of the 

 plant. By topping you increase the size 

 of the flower, but at the same time shorten 

 its duration, and perhaps disfigure its 

 appearance. Stake them before they get 

 too high, tying them securely, so as to 

 induce them to grow erect. The most 

 robust will not require a stake higher than 

 4 ft. If the weather is dry, they may be 

 watered with a solution of guano or any 

 other liquid manure poured carefully 

 round the roots, but not too near the stem. 

 But it is in the garden, not the exhibition, 

 one wants the Hollyhock. 



PROPAGATION is effected from eyes, 

 cuttings, seeds, or careful division. Holly- 

 hocks may be propagated by single eyes, 

 put in in July and August, and also by 

 cuttings put in in spring, on a slight hot- 

 bed. Plants raised in summer are best 

 preserved by putting them in October 

 into 4-in. or 5-in. pots in light, rich, sandy 

 earth, and then placing them in a cold 

 frame or greenhouse, giving them plenty 

 of air on all favourable occasions. Thus 

 treated they will grow a little in winter. 

 In March or April turn them out into the 

 open ground, and they will bloom as finely 

 and as early as if planted in autumn. 

 Plants put out even in May will flower the 

 same year. If seeds are sown in autumn 

 in a box or pan in heat, as soon as they 

 are ripe, potted off and grown on in a pot 

 through the winter, and planted out the fol- 

 lowing April, they will flower in the same 

 summer and autumn. If allowed to remain 

 in the beds or borders where they have 

 flowered, choice Hollyhocks often perish 

 from damp, or from snow settling round 

 their collars, or penetrating the cavity left 

 by the too close removal of the flower- 

 stems. At the approach of winter, say in 

 October, carefully lift all it is desired to 

 save, and lay them close together in a 

 slanting direction, at an angle of about 

 45, in a warm mellow soil at the foot of a 

 wall or hedge, where, in hard weather, 

 shelter can easily be given. The ground 



that is to receive them can then be 

 thoroughly worked in winter, and if a 

 little rotten turf is put in with them 

 when replanted in March or April, good 

 spikes and large flowers may be ex- 

 pected. Choice and scarce varieties may 

 be either potted up or planted out in 

 a frame. Potting them is the better way, 

 because they can be placed in a green- 

 house or vinery, on shelves near the glass. 

 Some of the stools will have numerous 

 growths starting from them, and unless 

 the plants have a little heat early in the 

 year, many of the cuttings cannot be pro- 

 pagated soon enough to flower the same 

 season. Growers in the south of England 

 have an advantage with these spring- 

 struck cuttings as there is quite three 

 weeks' difference between the time of 

 flowering in the south and in the northern 

 districts of England and in Scotland. 

 Root-grafting gives the propagator a 

 little advantage, and early in the year 

 the plants are propagated more readily 

 in a light frame fixed in a heated propa- 

 gating house. A hotbed is uncertain, 

 as there is sometimes too much heat, 

 and then not enough. Although the 

 young side shoots of old stocks will root in 

 a gentle bottom-heat in spring, they may 

 also be increased in July, just before the 

 plants come into flower. The side shoots 

 from the flower-spikes, or the smaller 

 flower - spikes, if they can be spared, 

 should be cut up into single joints, and 

 dibbled in thickly in a prepared bed in a 

 frame or pit, where they can be kept 

 close and cared for by shading from bright 

 sunshine, and sprinkling occasionally with 

 water that has been warmed by standing 

 in the sun. Nearly every cutting will 

 then develop a bud from the axil of the 

 leaf, rapidly strike root, and make a good 

 strong plant by the following spring ; as 

 a rule, young plants propagated at this 

 season give the best spikes. When cut- 

 ting down the flowering stems of Holly- 

 hocks after blooming, they should be left 

 a good length, as they are impatient of 

 damp about their crowns ; in spring the 

 old stems may be removed altogether. 

 Owing to the Hollyhock disease it is often 

 a better plan to abandon the named kinds 

 increased from cuttings and resort to 

 seedlings only for stock. This way is all 

 the more sure, as seed growers of late 

 years have fixed and separated the colours 

 so that a fine variety of good ones may 

 be secured in this way, while the plants 

 are more vigorous, and in any case will 

 often start free from the disease. 



INSECT PESTS AND DISEASES. Red 

 spider and thrips are both very trouble- 

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