THE MANSE GARDEN. 229 



safely committed to the border. By the third year 

 it will yield a profusion of feathers. 



Hollyhock Is properly a biennial plant, but may 

 be continued a number of years. In deep soil with 

 shelter it may reach the height of fourteen feet, but 

 half that measure is enough for beauty. The long 

 duration of blossom, the length of stalk in flower at 

 the same time, the richness of the double sorts, and 

 the great variety of colours, render this plant a chief 

 ornament of the garden in the months of autumn. 

 Save the seeds of the best plants and sow in April 

 or May. Thin the young plants, removing the 

 more forward to other ground, in order to get strong 

 short stems, and in the beginning of October plant 

 them out where they are intended to flower. The 

 chief beauty of this family is one that is double and 

 almost black, and this being also the most rare the 

 method of preserving it is worthy of attention. About 

 midsummer cut over by the ground some of the 

 flowering stems, which will cause buds to spring up 

 beneath for next year's flourish. When this will do 

 no longer, perhaps in the fourth or fifth year, take 

 off some buds in autumn, the nearest to the ground 

 that can be got, and extract part of the bark along 

 with the bud. Treat these in the manner of carna- 

 tion pipings; some of them will take root, and your 

 fine plant will be renovated. The writer has now a 

 specimen reared in this way from seed, and in its 

 eighth year, growing six feet high, and clothed with 

 dark purple. 



Hyacinths Grow best in light sandy earth with 

 manure placed a foot beneath the bulbs. They are 

 planted in September, and a covering of leaves or 



