66 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



have done jfood work in this direction, and at home Messrs. 

 Webb & Sons, J, Carter & Co., and Sutton & Sons have 

 raised some first-rate varieties. Few plants equal Stocks for 

 bedding purposes, and no Annuals excel them for the pro- 

 duction of bold effects in a border. To the purity and 

 brilliance of their colouring must be added the attributes of 

 stateliness, good habit, double and lasting flowers, and sweet 

 fragrance. 



Two species have provided us with the wide range of Stocks 

 now available for garden decoration, and these are Matthiola 

 incana {Crucifera), with its variety annua, and M. sinuata. It 

 is specially interesting to notice that from M. incana have 

 come such different groups as the quick-flowering Ten- 

 week and the Brompton Stocks. These latter, as well as 

 the East Lothian or Intermediate Stocks obtained from 

 JM. sinuata, are Half-hardy Annuals ; sometimes they are 

 classed as biennials and are grown as such, but they can be 

 grown to flower the same year from seeds, even though 

 they may prove finer when given the longer season of growth. 



Culture 



Taking the popular Ten-week section first, the best method 

 of raising plants is to sow seeds thinly in well-drained sandy 

 soil in March in a temperature of about Oo° ; a declining hot- 

 bed is often a capital place for raising the plants. Only just 

 cover the seeds, and as soon after germination as the seed- 

 lings can be successfully handled prick them off into boxes 

 or pans of soil which contain a fair amount of leaf-mould, 

 sand, and a little decayed, dried cow manure. Another 

 method is to place the seedlings in a frame very soon after 

 they have formed rough leaves, and as soon as they have 

 become used to the frame, plant them 4 inches apart in a bed of 

 soil made up in the frame. Here they can receive ventilation 

 according to the w^eather, and the lights can be entirely re- 

 moved when the plants are established and the temperature 



