THE CRIMSON PETUNIA, 131 
crown that the enterprising lad starts from home with when 
destined to marry his master’s daughter and become Lord 
Mayor of London. The way to make your floral fortune 
is to plant them, let them run to seed, and thereby begin 
the world anew by means of seed of your own saving. 
You will sow, and grow, and select as before; and there 
is in truth no knowing to what glorious pitch of perfec- 
tion you may eventually, by patience and skill, bring the 
petunia or any other flower that you may deal with in 
the same way. 
We began on a cheap plan; but there is a better. It 
consists in buying plants of the best named varieties, and 
raising seeds from these, thus securing all that has been 
done by a thousand florists at the first start. But you are 
not bound to raise seedlings at all. If you want to have 
the best possible petunias for the least possible trouble, you 
have but to purchase the named sorts and grow them well, 
and there is an end of the matter. 
To grow nice pot specimens of petunias is evidently not 
an easy matter, because we meet with very many at exhi- 
bitions that are not nice. The general fault consists in 
the growth being prolonged and rusty, suggesting to the 
critical observer that the plants have been crowded and far 
from the glass, and in some degree neglected as regards 
watering. The petunia is a very accommodating plant; it 
is very nearly hardy, and therefore should have plenty of 
air when growing freely. A light, rich, saudy soil should 
be employed in the growth of pot specimens, and the shoots 
should be pinched back in a slight degree in the early 
stages to promote a dwarf, bushy habit; and of course the 
training to neat stakes should proceed with every advance 
in the growth of the plants. 
