318 AN HOUR WITH THE HOLLYHOCK. 



as any show themselves of inferior merit they should be 

 destroyed, which will give the remaining ones more room 

 for development. Some varieties come true from seed, or 

 so nearly so that it would require the most practised eye 

 to distinguish them ; others come true in colour, but vary 

 much in degree of fulness and general quality ; while 

 others again vary both in colour and quality-* maroon 

 flowers producing white, yellow, red and the like. The 

 seed may also be sown out of doors during any of the 

 summer months, but the flowering will not then take place 

 until the summer and autumn of the following year. 



We now proceed to offer a few remarks on propagation. 



We know of but four modes of propagating the Holly- 

 hock (i) By seed ; (2) By cuttings; (3) By dividing the 

 roots ; and (4) By grafting. The first mode has been 

 already discussed : it remains for us to consider the 

 others. Propagation by cuttings is the best mode of 

 obtaining good plants, and the practice may be carried 

 on from March to October. Most of the old plants give 

 an abundance of young shoots early in spring ; and so 

 soon as these become a little hard they may be cut off 

 close to the stem, leaving about three of the best shoots 

 for flower-spikes. Place three or four cuttings around a 

 5-inch pot, in a rather light sandy soil. Plunge them in a 

 close frame, where in a few weeks they will have formed 

 new leaves and roots, and may be potted off, each in a 

 separate 4-inch pot. As fresh shoots form on the old 

 plants they may be treated similarly, up to Midsummer, 

 after which period we would prefer leaving the wood to 

 become quite hard before making the cuttings. In the 

 latter case a single eye is sufficient to make a plant ; but 

 the wood-shoots, and not the flower shoots, should be 

 chosen. It sometimes happens that the eyes developed 

 at the base of a main spike produce wood-shoots, but 

 they more usually produce flower-shoots. The latter take 

 root and form plants, but are not of the best descrip- 

 tion. Cuttings made from single eyes may be cut 



