XXI 



ON THE HOLLYHOCK 



THERE is no finer border flower than the Hollyhock 

 when it is healthy and well grown, and it is not 

 surprising that gardeners still cling to it in spite of 

 the disasters which sometimes accompany its cultivation. 

 The fact is, sentiment becomes entangled with these old 

 plants, and the nearer we get to our own disappearance 

 from the world's garden, the more affectionately we 

 think of the flowers of our youth. People whose 

 memory is good can recall the halcyon days of the 

 Hollyhock, even it their hair is only as yet half grey, 

 and they are loth to part with the picture which it 

 brings before them of stately groups, seven or eight 

 feet high, clothed with green leaves and studded with 

 large, brilliant flowers. 



It is rarely that we see perfectly healthy Hollyhocks 

 in these degenerate days. Even if the plants get to the 

 flowering stage, they still fall short of the Hollyhock 

 beauty of former days, because the lower foliage is 

 discoloured by their hereditary enemy, the fungus called 

 Puccinia malvacearum. The latter name, compounded as 

 it is from Malva, the botanical name of the Mallow, 

 shows at once the " family " nature of the fungus (that 

 is, its particular association with the Mallows) and the 

 kinship of the Hollyhocks with the Mallows. 



The Hollyhock is, indeed, a relative of the common 



196 



