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Gardening for Amateurs 



and Beauty of Nice varieties. For summer 

 flowering the Ten- Week Stocks are the most 

 popular. Seeds may be sown under glass 

 with or without artificial heat during March, 

 and outside on a sheltered border in April. 

 The number of Ten-Week Stocks grown in 

 gardens is very large, and the colours are 

 numerous. For instance, seeds of Dwarf 

 German Stocks are sold in eighteen distinct 

 varieties ; these grow 12 inches high. The 



Annual Sea Lavenders (Statice). 



Giant Perfection is a taller strain, 18 inches 

 high, and represented by six or eight colours ; 

 the Wallflower-leaved Stocks are 1 foot high, 

 and very distinct with their glossy green 

 leaves, in several colours. White-flowered 

 Stocks are always in demand ; good sorts 

 are Princess Alice, H feet ; Mammoth White, 

 2 feet ; Bismarck, \ feet ; and Snowdon, 

 2 feet. In coloured Stocks we have Vesuvius, 

 bright red, H feet ; Salmon Beauty, salmon- 

 rose, 11 feet ; and Fireball, scarlet, 1 foot high, 

 with Wallflower-like leaves. The Beauty of 

 Nice Stocks, about 20 inches high, though 

 introduced for winter-flowering, are now 



much grown for beds and borders in summer ; 

 the best colours are salmon-pink, mauve, 

 white, pale yellow, and crimson. Similar 

 treatment to that given to Ten-Week sorts 

 is recommended. The East Lothian, height 

 15 inches, and Emperor or Queen Stocks, 

 18 inches high, may be sown in August for 

 spring-flowering, or in a heated greenhouse 

 during February and March for blooming 

 in summer and autumn. Other named 

 Stocks requiring similar 

 treatment are Empress 

 Elizabeth, carmine - pink, 

 2 feet ; Mont Blanc, white, 

 2 feet ; Crimson King, 

 2 feet ; and Queen Alex- 

 andra, rosy - lilac, 2 feet. 

 There are shades of colour 

 in the flowers of Stocks 

 to suit all tastes, from 

 the purest white to the 

 richest crimson, and in- 

 cluding pink, rose, purple, 

 mauve, shades of blue, 

 yellow, scarlet, carmine, 

 and terra-cotta. A garden 

 of any size without Stocks 

 is difficult to imagine, 

 masses of them in beds 

 and borders cannot be sur- 

 passed for brilliant colour- 

 ing and delightful fra- 

 grance, while once used 

 for floral decoration in 

 the house they are always 

 in demand. Unlike many 

 double flowers, double 

 Stocks do not produce 

 seeds, so that if one desires 

 to save seeds a few of the best single- 

 flowered plants must be left for the purpose. 

 Tagetes (Marigold). This is a rather 

 large family of half-hardy annuals, including 

 as it does the African and French Marigolds. 

 The giant of the family is, of course, the 

 African Marigold (Tagetes erecta), 2 to 3 

 feet high, bearing large rich orange- coloured 

 blossoms ; the variety with lemon-coloured 

 flowers (sulphurea) is a pleasing companion. 

 There are varieties of T. erecta nana, of 

 similar colouring, but both the flowers and 

 plants are smaller, the height being about 

 18 inches. The best of the single French 



