90 The Petunia. 



if it is not worth more than an ounce of the common sorts, at less than 

 half the expense, which would produce plants enough for an acre. 



The seeds from one of these collections, in all about two hundred and fifty, 

 were sown in my greenhouse about the middle of January, on the surface 

 of the soil in a seed-pan, and lightly covered with fine sand. In sowing 

 seeds so fine as those of the petunia, great care is necessary to keep the 

 surface moist, and shaded from the direct rays of the sun ; and more care 

 still must be given when the seeds begin to germinate, as an injudicious 

 watering by pouring upon the young plants will destroy many of them; 

 but, when watering is necessary, it should be applied in a very gentle way 

 through the fine rose of a water-pot. From the seed-pan, the plants were 

 transplanted into a box, and, when of a suitable size, removed into pots. 

 In May, some of the plants began to show flower, and in June were turned 

 out of the pots into beds ; and, by the 5th of July, most of them were in 

 flower. From this collection of seeds, about a hundred and twenty-five 

 plants matured. Of these, a portion were disposed of, leaving seventy-five 

 plants, which have given thirty per cent of double or semi-double flow- 

 ers ; many of them being very beautiful, not only of the double and semi- 

 double, but also of the single varieties. Even if the seed is obtained 

 from the highly-improved varieties, there is a tendency in some plants to 

 assimilate to the character of the wild species ; but in this lot there were 

 but two or three of this character. Some of the finest of these seedlings 

 I shall propagate from cuttings, and give them a name. The imagination 

 has to be racked to find names for the numberless varieties of beautiful 

 flowers that are constantly brought to light by the skill and industry of 

 florists. Multitudes of these names and varieties are lost every year, 

 being superseded by new sorts, with new names ; sometimes of an im- 

 proved character, and sometimes not. But every amateur florist wishes 

 to bring his flowers into notice, though they are soon to be lost. 



In the illustration, the upper flower is rose color, veined with purple and 

 bordered with green ; the lower is purple carmine, edged with white. An- 

 other of these seedlings, a deep crimson, measures four inches in diame- 

 ter, a full double flower. Another very delicate double flower is pure 

 white, variegated with rich lilac purple ; one semi-double variety is of a 

 rich, dark, velvet-like purple, shaded with crimson ; another semi-double, 



