326 THE HOLLYHOCK. 



Some few years ago the Hollyhock suffered great 

 depreciation from being attacked by a disease which 

 baffled the skill of our best cultivators. Thousands of 

 plants, both young unbloomed seedlings and named sorts, 

 suddenly decayed, often just as the first flowers were 

 expanding, when it was impossible to refill their places. 

 This, we believe, was attributable to the unwholesome 

 plan, too generally adopted, of forcing the plant, causing 

 it to grow out of season, and in a close unnatural 

 atmosphere, in order to obtain a more rapid and ex- 

 tensive increase by root-grafting. If we have rightly 

 studied the vegetable kingdom, there are few plants will 

 bear this strain put upon them without suffering a 

 diminution of vital power, not always quickly recovered, 

 but often conveyed downwards to the offspring, alike 

 through cuttings and seeds. Certain it is that by the 

 discontinuance of this practice the disease gradually 

 disappeared, as far as we know, and is now almost 

 extinct. 



THE HYACINTH. 



[From "Proceedings of the Royal Horticultural Society" 

 1862, Vol. IL,p. 611]. 



OF the many candidates for popular support in the 

 present extended list of garden favourites there are 

 few receiving more attention at the present time than the 

 Hyacinth. Its beauty, fragrance, and variety are so many 

 separate points of attraction, and the season at which it 

 blooms is worthy of especial consideration. By the 

 appearance of the Hyacinth winter is driven from its last 

 strongholds, and the garden suddenly rejoices in all the 

 brilliancy of a summer parterre. 



Then the plant is of such easy culture, that while the 

 highest attainments in the art may be reserved for the 



