Notes ajid Gleanings. 55 



Petunias, Double and Single Varieties. — Remarks on the Culture. — 

 Petunias may be considered as one of the indispensable class of plants for the 

 flower-garden, especially the single varieties, and the double for decorating 

 the greenhouse or conservatory during the suminer and autumn months. Of 

 the former, as well as the latter, there are now a great number of sorts in culti- 

 vation, and some of them are very beautifully striped ; but of that strain very 

 few are adapted for planting in beds or borders, because their growth in those 

 situations becomes very straggling. But cultivated in pots, and trained to a 

 trellis, they have, owing to their fanciful stripes and colors, a very picturesque 

 effect : certainly there are some very good rich-colored selfs, too, in this class, 

 that may be used for the same purposes. But those which are most suitable for 

 the flower-garden are generally more compact in their habit, and bloom in 

 greater profusion. Perhaps one of the best examples of the kind we have now 

 in culture is the Countess of Ellesmere, — a charming rose-colored flower, with 

 a white throat. It withstands the weather exceedingly well ; and, the longer it 

 is growing, the more does the continuous succession of blooms increase. It is 

 admirably adapted for a wire basket. We have a basket suspended in which 

 the plant has been grown for these two years past, with other things of minor 

 growth ; and its shoots trail in every direction, and continue to flower in abun- 

 dance, and have so from the middle of May. There are other sorts that are 

 similar in style of growth and blooming-qualities, — such as William's Purple 

 Border and Shrub Rose ; and for whites, Alba Magna. The majority of the 

 self-colored single varieties can be produced true to their strain from seeds. 

 But then it requires that the seed should be saved with care, — that is, the plant 

 from which you gather it should be grown in a spot by itself, — as, should there be 

 two or more varieties intermixed, the chances are that they will hybridize each 

 other, and thus the seed will yield a totally different variety from the parent. 

 It may be superior to the latter, or inferior : so, in the event of your being under 

 the necessity of grouping your various sorts together, it would be better to pre- 

 serve the variety by propagating them from cuttings. I have always had the 

 seed which has been purchased of a respectable seedsman produce the plants 

 correct to name. 



It should be sown in large garden pans or pots well drained about the mid- 

 dle of September, and allowed to remain in the seed-pan till early in the ensuing 

 spring, when they may be pricked out, several in a pot, and subjected to a little 

 warmth to encourage their growth ; and, when sufficiently strong enough, they 

 can be potted singly or otherwise, as it may best suit the cultivator. As they 

 grow, the shoots should be occasionally stopped, in order to obtain a bushy 

 growth. It does not matter how cool the temperature is to which they are sub- 

 jected during the winter months, so long as you guard against damp and frost. 

 Some sow in the spring; but I have always had the strongest from the autumn- 

 sown plants. 



We shall now offer sone observations on the double varieties ; for, in their 

 list, they include some really charming flowers, and many of them impart a fra- 

 grance which makes them the more desirable. They are propagated from cut- 

 tings : and the spring is the best time for that purpose ; for, if an old plant is put 



