Tire FLOWEE-GAEDEN. 85 



Snow-Drop. — Is the earliest of all flowers. In England it blows in 

 January. Once in the ground, it is not very easy to get it out again. 

 Nothing but carrying it away, or actually consuming it with fire, will 

 rid you of it. No sun, not even an American sun, will kill a snow-drop 

 bulb, if it touch the ground. 



Stock. — There are annuals and biennials of this name ; and, if I were to 

 choose amongst all the annuals and biennials, I should certainly choose 

 the stock. Elegant leaf, elegant plant; beautiful, showy and most fra- 

 grant flower ; and, with suitable attention, blooms even in the natural 

 ground, from May to November in England, and from June to Novem- 

 ber here. The annuals are called ten-week stocks. And of these there 

 arc, with a pea-green leaf, the red, white, purple and scarlet; and then 

 there are all the same colors with a wall-flower or sea-green leaf. So 

 that there are eight sorts of the annual stock. Of the biennials, there 

 are the Brompton, of which there are the scarlet and the white ; the 

 Dutch, which is red ; the queen's, of which there are the red and the 

 white ; and the Twickenham, which is purple. As to propagation, it 

 is, of course, by seed only. If there be nothing but the natural ground 

 to rely on, the sowing must be early ; the earth very fine and very rich. 

 The seed is small and thin, and does not easily come up in coarse 

 earth. 



If the plants come np thick, thin them, when very young. And dc 

 not leave them nearer together than six inches. They, however, trans- 

 plant very well ; and those that have not place to blow in may be re- 

 moved, and a succession of bloom is thus secured. If you have a green- 

 house, glass-frame, or hand-glass, you get flowers six weeks earlier. The 

 biennials are sown at the same time, and treated in the same way. They 

 blow the second year ; but, if there be great diflSculty in preserving 

 them, in the natural ground, through the winter in England, what must 

 it be here 1 Indeed, it cannot be done ; and yet they are so fine, so lofty, 

 such masses of beautiful and fragrant flowers, and they continue so long 

 in bloom, that they are worth any care and any trouble. There is but 

 one way; the plants, when they get ten or a dozen leaves, must be put 

 into flower-pots. These may be sunk in the earth, in the open ground, 

 till November [Long Island], and when the sharp frosts come, the pots 

 must be taken up, and placed out of the reach of hard frost, and where 

 there is, however, sun and air. When the spring comes, the pots may 

 be put out into the natural ground again ; or, which is better, the balls 

 of earth may be put into a hole made for the purpose ; and thus the 

 plants will be in the natural ground to blow. In this country they 

 should be placed in the shade when put out again ; for a very hot sun is 

 apt to tarnish the bloom. 



Syringa, or Mock-Orange, — A very stout shrub, with blossoms much 

 like that of the orange, and with a powerful smell. It is propagated 

 from suckers, of which it sends out a great many. 



Sweet- William. — A very pretty flower. Makes a flue show. Comes 

 double by chance ; and is very handsome whether double or single. It 

 is propagated frpm seed, the plants coming from which do not blow till 

 the second year. The sweet-William root does not last many years. It 

 may be propagated by parting the roots ; and this must be done, to have 



