264 STOCKGILLYFLOWER. 



Stockgilly flower, or Ten-weeks' -stock. Though 

 set down in the list of annuals, this is a much finer 

 flower when treated as a biennial. If seed pro- 

 cured from nurseries has been raised in warmer cli- 

 mates, the plants uniformly run to flower too early, 

 and the biennial treatment becomes impracticable. 

 Home-grown seed should be saved in higher situa- 

 tions; in lower, the Brompton stock is more favour- 

 able for keeping over winter. In sowing the seed, 

 attention should be paid to the scarlet sort, which 

 is by far the finest; but the care to have the seed 

 stock in the neighbourhood of a double flower is a 

 mere fancy, as the double yields no pollen. The 

 virtue of being double is accidental, or perhaps the 

 effect of cultivation in a soil more rich than suits 

 the nature of the plant. Sow the seed towards the 

 end of July, or so late, according to the climate, as 

 to avoid shooting for that season. Transfer part 

 of the plants to any spare room in the cauliflower 

 frame, where they will certainly be saved, and afford 

 a most beautiful blow next summer. Part of the 

 plants also may be committed to the open air, some 

 under a north wall and some in the heat and shel- 

 ter of a south; for in some seasons the one will 

 prove safest, and in some the other. In this way, 

 manage to have a hundred good plants, which set 

 in spring about twice as thick as common greens, 

 and on ground lightly manured and prepared by 

 digging before winter. When flowering begins, 

 observe such as threaten to be single, or of inferior 

 colours, and draw them out, making room for the 



