. WALLFLOWER. 267 



has the effect of deforming the figure, confounding 

 the colours, and destroying the fine feathering of 

 the stripes in which the chief beauty consists. In 

 planting, which is best done in October, rake off the 

 earth from the bed both ways to the depth of three 

 inches; set the bulbs apart nine inches by six, tak- 

 ing care to place on the middle of the bed the larger, 

 which can bear a deeper covering of earth; replace 

 that soil which has been raked off, and add from a 

 furrow on each side as much to give a little eleva- 



o 



tion to the middle of the bed, for the sake of dry- 

 ness and to cover all the bulbs from four to six 

 inches deep. Tulips require no watering. As soon 

 as the flowers have decayed, remove the seed pods; 

 and when the foliage withers take up the roots. 



Wallflower. Having sown pretty largely, and 

 obtained some fine specimens of very dark flowers, 

 with broad petals, get all others out of the garden, 

 and plenty of good seedling plants, self-sown, will 

 be annually obtained. But to insure a succession 

 of the best breed, (and the method applies to the 

 double flowering, which yield no seed, and cannot 

 otherwise be preserved,) about the beginning of 

 July, pinch off a hundred slips or young shoots of 

 five or six inches in length, taken only from the 

 finest stocks ; crop the leaves and strip the rest of 

 the stem bare; dibble the slips, so prepared, into a 

 bed newly dug, and shaded by trees or a north wall. 

 Sprinkle them with water and shade any part to 

 which the sun has access. Not one will go back: 

 and in this way a bountiful profusion of one of the 



