FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 
104 
of its uncertainty. Plants raised from seed appear to have more power 
to resist the attack of the disease than those propagated hy cuttings or 
divisions. A large proportion of the seedlings raised from seeds saved 
from double-flowered varieties will be single flowered. 
Caiture The seed may be sown as soon as ripe either in pans or 
Ur6 ’ gentle bottom heat, or in the open air. The seedlings will 
require winter protection, and as soon as they are large enough for 
removal from the seed-pans they should be potted separately in three-inch 
pots, and removed to a cold frame or house. Or the seed may be held 
over until the beginning of April, and sown in a seed-bed previously 
prepared by deep trenching and manuring. The seed should be sown 
thinly to allow plenty of room to the young plants, which will be ready 
in June for removal to a nursery bed, where they should be planted, 
each half a foot clear of its nearest neighbours. In autumn they may be 
placed where intended to flower in the beds or borders. Here they must 
have plenty of room, for experience shows that the disease causes far 
greater havoc where the plants are grown closely together. Three or 
four feet should be allowed between the plants; and stakes for tying 
should be inserted when they are about a foot in height, two stakes 
being allowed for each plant. Of the choice double varieties only two 
stems should be allowed to grow; they should be tied at intervals to the 
stake as they grow, to prevent any injury from the wind. Where they 
are likely to experience heavy frosts, it is better to remove the young 
plants in autumn to cold frames, planting them out about the middle of 
April, after previously hardening by gradual removal of the lights. 
Protect during cold nights until well established, and see that they have 
plenty of water during the time they are making growth, as much of 
the success in flowering will depend upon this. At this period also they 
will be greatly benefited by a top-dressing of well-rotted manure. 
Cuttings are prepared from the young shoots taken from near the 
rootstock at almost any time; a fact that may be taken advantage of to 
maintain a succession of bloom, for those cuttings that were established 
early will bloom in July, whilst those taken later will flower as late as 
November. A similar difference will be observed between autumn-sown 
and spring-sown seedlings. Cuttings are placed singly in small pots of 
sandy soil, and kept in a close frame until rooted. The rootstock may 
be divided after the flowering period. The single-flowered varieties are 
practically disease-proof. They are much more ornamental in the border 
than the double-flowered forma They are perennial, ripen seeds freely, 
grow to a height of 8 feet, each clump producing about a dozen stems, 
every one of which flowers profusely. 
