224 A GUIDE TO FLORICULTURE. 



situation, and regularly water them through the summer. 

 In September the seedlings should be potted off singly, and 

 be removed to a place secure from frost during the winter, 

 as seedlings are tender. 



To increase by division of the roots is the only way of 

 increasing the same variety, when you have a choice flow- 

 er. September is the best time for that purpose ; it should 

 be done with the thumb and fingers, not with a knife, which 

 has a tendency to destroy the plants. It is necessary to 

 divide the root once in two years, at farthest, or your plants 

 will degenerate or die. There is one thing remarkable in 

 good plants ; by allowing them to seed, they will frequently 

 die. This must be guarded against, unless you have a 

 duplicate plant. Seedlings generally produce the best 

 flowers, and are the only certain means of getting new 

 varieties. The amateur should only save those plants that 

 prove firm and with elastic foot stalks ; never allow more 

 than seven flowers on a plant; observe that the eye is 

 round, of a clear yellow color ; the ground color of a rich 

 crimson and velvety appearance, with a clear and distinct 

 edging round the petals, which can be observed at twenty 

 feet distance. The flower should be perfectly flat, without 

 curving either way. The pin eyed plant is considered by 

 florists not fit for a show plant. This plant is liable to be de- 

 stroyed by the red spider ; and the plan recommended in the 

 treatise on the Primrose family is also applicable to this, to 

 prevent their destruction. Maiden soil from the commons 

 is the best for this plant, with one third cow manure, at 

 least three years old, mixed three months, and exposed to 

 the weather before used. 



