402 MANUAL OF GARDENING 



house culture, the ease with which it may be grown and the uses to 

 which the festoons of leaves may be put entitle it to a place in the 

 conservatory or greenhouse. 



Seed sown in pots or boxes in January or February, the plants shifted 

 as needed until planted on the bench in August, will grow fine strings 

 of green by the holidays. The temperature should be rather high. 

 The plants should be set on low benches, giving as much room as pos- 

 sible overhead. Green-colored strings should be used for the vines to 

 climb on, the vines frequently syringed to keep down the red spider, 

 which is very destructive to this plant, and liquid manure given as the 

 vines grow. The soil should contain a good proportion of sand and 

 be enriched with well-rotted manure. 



After the first strings are cut, a second growth fully as good as the 

 first may be had by cleaning up the plants and top-dressing the soil 

 with rotted manure. Sometimes the old roots are kept three or four 

 years. Slightly shading the house through August will add to the 

 color of the leaves. The odor from a vine of smilax thickly covered 

 with the small flowers is very agreeable. 



Stocks. — The Ten-weeks and the biennial or Brompton stocks 

 (species of Maithiola) are found in nearly all old-fashioned gardens. 

 Most gardens are thought to be incomplete without them, and 

 the use of the biennial flowering species as house-plants is increas- 

 ing. 



The Ten-weeks stock is usually grown from seed sown in hotbeds or 

 boxes in March. The seedlings are transplanted several times pre- 

 vious to being planted out in early May. At each transplanting the 

 soil should be made a little richer. The double flowers will be more 

 numerous when the soil is rich. 



The biennial species (or Brompton stocks) should be sown the 

 season previous to that in which flowers are wanted, the plants win- 

 tered over in a cool house, and grown in the following spring. They 

 may be planted out through the summer and lifted into pots in August 

 or September for winter flowering. These may be increased by cut- 

 tings taken from the side shoots; but the sowing of seed is a surer 

 method, and unless an extra fine variety is to be saved, it would be 

 the best one to pursue. Height, 10 to 15 inches. 



