AN HOUR WITH THE HOLLYHOCK. 305 



round the neck with the hands or by a gentle stroke of 

 the foot. This done, watering must be attended to if 

 the season be dry, using weak liquid manure, breaking 

 the surface of the ground with a hoe the day after the 

 water is given. Frequent loosening of the surface of 

 the soil is indeed an important part of culture, and 

 should be attended to throughout the whole of the grow- 

 ing season. 



Autumn planting is very good for the hardy free- 

 growing sorts, provided the plants are sufficiently strong to 

 be planted out early in October; otherwise we should 

 advise their being kept in pots under glass during winter, 

 and transferred to their permanent places early in May. 

 Vigorous healthy plants of hardy sorts, when well 

 established, seldom suffer much from the frost of winter 

 when growing in the open air, provided the soil be well 

 drained ; but where the sorts are delicate, the plants 

 feeble, or not well rooted, it is far otherwise. We know an 

 instance of an amateur losing nearly one-half of his stock 

 during winter, the plants being in the condition last 

 described. In all cases it is a wise precaution to earth up 

 the plants remaining in the ground at the close of autumn, 

 that the rain may not settle around them ; and if a few 

 small hand-glasses can be spared to shelter any rare or 

 delicate kinds, so much the better. Bloomed seedlings are 

 almost invariably strong, and may be transferred to a 

 permanent situation in the garden immediately that the 

 flowering is over ; other seedlings, whether raised in 

 autumn or spring, should never be planted out until the 

 end of April or early in May. 



When transplanting is done in autumn, the plants 

 should be guarded during the first winter against the 

 injurious effects that may arise from changes of the 

 weather. When a sudden thaw succeeds frost it is no 

 uncommon thing to find the plants upheaved, and their 

 roots partially exposed. It may sometimes be advisable 

 to replant them ; but in most cases the necessary end may 



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