CHAP. IV. ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 295 



duce immense double flowers, resembling full-blown Camellias, 

 of various colours white, rose, scarlet, purple, and variegated 

 and are about the most lovely of all annuals. 



A very great mistake, I believe, is usually made in regard to 

 the time of sowing the seed. Sometimes it is sown in July, and 

 the consequence is that many of the young plants perish from 

 the wet, while those that manage to survive come into blossom 

 only to have their flowers destroyed or damaged by the heavy 

 rains. Again, the seed is often sown in October, with that of 

 the other annuals ; but the Balsam requires more warmth than 

 it meets with at that season to make much growth. I have 

 found that by sowing the seed about the beginning of Septem- 

 ber in pots, large, well-grown plants may be obtained by the 

 close of the Rains. If at that time the plants thus raised be 

 put out in the border in well-enriched soil, they will blossom in 

 perfection and preserve their beauty unimpaired for a very long 

 time. Balsams, moreover, put out in the border during the 

 Eains, I have often noticed perishing from no apparent reason ; 

 but on pulling them up, and splitting the stalk with my thumb- 

 nail, I have invariably found in them a great maggot that had 

 devoured the substance of the interior. I know no preventive 

 against this. 



In planting out the Balsam the stem should be sunk up to 

 the leaves. Or if it be grown in a pot the pot should be several 

 times changed, a very small one taken first, and a larger one each 

 time, and each time the stem should be buried up to the leaves 

 in the soil. Balsams love a light rich soil and plenty of water. 



In the Journal of the Agri-Horticultural Society, vol. ii., 2nd 

 series, will be found a paper by Mr. J. Scott, giving a description 

 of several species of Balsam of this country, of some of which he 

 speaks highly. But the one or two that I am myself acquainted 

 with seem to me of too straggling and weedy a growth for what- 

 ever merit there maybe in their flowers to compensate for. The 

 description of the following plant, and directions for cultivating 

 it are from the same paper in Mr. Scott's own words : 



" Hydrocera. 



" H. triflora : Domootee : An aquatic, with lanceolate leaves 

 four to five inches long arid one broad. Flowers large white, 

 variegated with red and yellow. It well deserves a place in the 



