Angast 31, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTDKE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



155 







WEEKLY 



CALENDAR, 















Day 



^7 

 Week. 





Average Tempera- [ Rain in 



Snn 



Son 



Moon 



Moon 



Moon's 



Clock 



Day 



ol 

 Month 



AUG.31-SEPT. 6, 1871. 



ture near London. 43 years. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Hises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Sun, 



Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. a. 





31 



Th 



Crystal Palace Autmnn Flower Show closes. 



71.5 



47.4 



59.4 



17 



12afo 



49af6 



53af7 



10 af 6 



15 



2 



243 



1 



F 



Bishop Auckland Horticultural Show. 



71.1 



47.5 



59.3 





13 5 



45 6 



10 8 



26 7 



16 



21 



244 



2 



S 





71.0 



47.B 



69.3 



19 



15 5 



44 6 



27 8 



40 8 



17 



40 



245 



3 



SDK 



13 SlJNDif AFTER TriKITT. 



71.8 



47.7 



59.2 



19 



16 5 



42 6 



44 8 



62 9 



18 



1 



246 



4 



M 



Length of Day 13h. 22m. 



71.0 



46.7 



68.9 



19 



18 5 



49 6 



5 9 



2 11 



19 



1 20 



247 



5 



Tn 





70.4 



47.1 



58.8 



18 



20 5 



37 6 



26 9 



after. 



20 



1 39 



248 



6 



W 



Royal Horticultural Society, Fruit, Floral, 

 [ and General Meeting. 



70.2 



46.8 



58.5 



20 



21 5 



35 6 



54 9 



20 1 



c 



1 69 



249 



From observations taken near London during forty-tliree years, tha average day temperature of tlie week is 71.0 



% and its night tem- 



peratnie 47.2^. The greatest heat was 85", on the 1st, 1843 ; and the lowest cold 80°, on the 4th, 1850. The greatest faH of rain was | 



1.50 inch. 







1 



CULTIVATION OF THE HOLLYHOCK. 



HIS has been an exceptional season, and in 

 many respects an unfavourable one, for some 

 tiowers and fruits. It has been a good sea- 

 son for tbe Hollybock, and some of the spikes 

 which I have seen this year are truly grand. 

 The Hollyhock and the Pansy are amongst 

 the first flowers that I ardently cultivated 

 before becoming a gardener, and now that I 

 require to study the pleasure of my employer 

 more than my own, I have not been able to 

 devote so much attention to them, but I admire them still. 

 They form striking contrasts to each other. The one lowlj- 

 and modest, carpeting the ground beneath your feet, and 

 studding it with soft velvety and beautiful colours like the 

 " wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower ;" the other noble 

 and majestic, forming gorgeous pyramids of many colours, 

 pure white and pale yellow to the deepest orange and bufl', 

 soft rose and pink, red, crimson, and deepest maroon. 



This fine autumn flower seems to have been brought 

 into very prominent notice for the first time as an exhi- 

 bition flower in London about the year 1854, as Mr. "W. 

 Paul, in his excellent little practical work, " An Hour with 

 the Hollyhock," alludes to a very successful exhibition 

 specially got up for this flower in the Surrey Zoological 

 Gardens that year. Previous to this there were many 

 raisers of seedlings both in England and Scotland : there 

 were also two distinct types. - The English section had 

 the largest and best-formed centres, but in many cases a 

 scarcely-distinguishable guard petal, while the Scotch 

 varieties were conspicuous by their immense guard petals ; 

 by crossing the two nationalities flowers with well-formed 

 closely-compacted centres were produced, and much better- 

 proportioned guards. 



Those who intend to begin the culture of Hollyhocks 

 would do well to obtain a selection of the very best sorts. 

 Plants that are propagated in the spring generally make 

 the strongest spikes : they should be planted- out on the 

 first favourable opportunity after the middle of March ; if 

 the weather is unfavourable April would be as well. The 

 soil should be deeply trenched and highly manured : if the 

 subsoil will admit of it, the ground should be trenched 



3 feet deep. The most suitable and efifective position for 

 Hollyhocks is to form backgrounds to wide borders, they 

 also form a striking feature where the spikes can be seen 

 at a distance rising above the foliage of evergreens in 

 a dwarf or newly-planted shrubbery. For exhibition, or 

 where the most perfectly-developed spikes or flowers are 

 required, they should be planted by themselves in rows 



4 feet apart, allowing .3 feet between the rows. The sticks 

 intended to support the plants should be stout, and stand 

 G feet out of the groimd ; these should be 7i feet long, 

 and put in before the plants, planting-out the HoUyhocks 

 close to the sticks afterwards. The plants will require 

 but little attention except tying the main shoots to the 

 sticks, pinching-out the side shoots, and giving them 

 copious supplies of water at the roots ; in hot weather 

 mulching the ground round the roots is very beneficial to 



No. 544.— Vol. SXI., New Seeibs. 



them. If required for exhibition, the spikes must be 

 shaded in some way. 



When the flowers show signs of decay they must be 

 removed, as if decayed flowers are allowed to remain they 

 will injure the seed pods. It is very important to save 

 seeds of the very best varieties in each colour, as the best 

 and most regular spikes are obtained from plants which 

 have been raised from seeds, and the chances are that 

 varieties may be obtained having distinct features and of 

 better quality than those already in commerce. There is 

 also much interest in watching the development of the 

 flowers, and in comparing them with those from which the 

 seed was obtained. 



As soon as the seeds are ripe, or when the flowers have 

 faded, if it is not intended to save seeds, the plants should 

 be cut over, and about the beginning of October they 

 should be lifted out of the groimd and potted, or planted 

 in some light sandy loam and leaf mould in a cold frame ; 

 I prefer to pot them, as the plants can be moved into a 

 warmer position if required. If they are wintered in a 

 house where no artificial heat can be applied to them the 

 pots must be plunged ; if otherwise they may be placed on 

 a shelf, or in any position where they can have a free 

 circulation of air around them. The plants must not be 

 huddled together in any out-of-the-way corner during 

 winter and neglected. A number of shoots will be thrown 

 up from the base of the main stem, these must all be taken 

 off early in the season ; any time in February wiU do. 

 They wOl form plants in a short time if grafted on a piece 

 of root in the way whip-grafting is performed ; the cutting, 

 with the small piece of root attached, should be potted in 

 a 3-inch pot in some very sandy compost, and the pots 

 plunged in a very gentle bottom heat in an ordinary dung 

 frame : if the bottom heat is at all excessive every one of 

 the plants will rot off. "When the young plants show signs 

 of being established they should be removed to a cold 

 frame, keeping it close for a few days until they are inured 

 to the change. It is also desu-able to shift the plants into 

 larger pots before finally planting them out. 



I will now make a few remarks about raising seedlings. 

 July is a good time ; the seeds can be sown in the open 

 ground, and the plants pricked out and protected during 

 winter in a cold frame, or any of the cheap glass protectors 

 now in use may be placed over them, planting them out 

 in March where it is intended they should bloom. 



The Hollyhock makes a grand feature at the autumn 

 exhibitions if shown as cut spikes, which is by far the best 

 way to show them. They are also exhibited in stands, 

 sumlar to Dahlias, as single blooms. To obtain the greatest 

 measure of success, and increase the size of the flowers, 

 the spike should be cut over, allowing only from three to 

 sis flowers on a spike ; shading them must also be attended 

 to, as sun, rain, and wind soon damage the petals. 



I bad some conversation with the principal Hollyhock 

 growers at the August meeting for this flower at South 

 Kensington ; contrary to my experience and that of others 

 in this neighbourhood they all seemed agreed that this was 

 a bad season for them. The " mysterious " disease which 

 attacks the Hollyhock, like those from which the Potato, 



No. U96.— Tot. XLYI., Ou) SEBtES. 



