February Dawning Spring 



the glass and shaded. Moisture should be given only 

 by immersing the flower-pots or pans in water. 



Stocks and Asters. These are perhaps the most 

 valuable of all half hardy annuals, and when well grown 

 few flowers give greater delight or a more abundant har- 

 vest. Both have been very greatly improved by florists, 

 and the strains of seed offered by seedsmen give excellent 

 results. Ten-week Stocks are usually found easier to grow 

 than Asters ; seedlings of the latter damp off in alarming 

 numbers under unsuitable conditions, while those of 

 the former are not so fastidious. Thin sowing, careful 

 watering, timely transplanting of the seedlings, with 

 discriminate ventilation, are the chief aids to success. In 

 a damp, close atmosphere the seedlings are more liable 

 to fail than when, as gardening phraseology has it, the 

 atmospheric conditions are " sweet and buoyant. " The 

 seedlings should be moistened by immersing the flower-pot 

 or pan in a bowl of water, not by pouring water among 

 them through the spout of a watering-can. Some people 

 dislike Stocks because a proportion of the flowers are 

 single. It is, I admit, difficult to admire single-flowered 

 Stocks ; yet if a good strain of seed is obtained, and care 

 is taken of the small and insignificant seedlings, there is 

 usually not much to complain of. More often than not it 

 is the big, sturdy seedlings that produce most of the 

 single flowers. As double flowers cannot produce seeds, 

 it follows that thes^e must be saved from single or semi- 

 double flowers, and for this reason a certain percentage of 

 single blooms must always be expected when seed of Stock 

 is sown. I find that the seedlings thrive well in an 

 ordinary greenhouse or in a frame on a hot-bed that has 

 cooled down somewhat. The single Asters, e.g. the Comet 

 varieties, are preferred by most people, and they are 

 undoubtedly delightful as cut flowers. 



Some Half Hardy Annuals, The old white fragrant 

 Tobacco (Nicotiana affinis) is still as great a favourite as 

 ever with flower lovers ; its blossoms open in full beauty 



141 



