866 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



meter ; the object being not to compress the roots, as that has a tendency to accelerate the flowering of all 

 vegetables. The plants were placed within a few inches of the glass, in a heat of from 70° to 100° ; they 

 were watered with pigeon-dung water, and due attention paid to remove the side branches when very 

 young, so as to produce one strong head or flower." {Hort. Trans, iv. 322.) 



SuBSECT. 25. Mignonette. — Reseda odorala, L. (^JSot. Mag. 29.) Dodecan. Dig. "L. 

 and Capparides, J. Reseda odorant^ Fr. ; Wohlriechende Reseda, Ger ; and Reseda 

 odorosa, Ital. 



6484. The mignonette is a trailing hardy annual, a native of Africa, and introduced in 

 1752. It is " the Egyptian bastard-rocket, with most sweet-smelling flowers," of Jus- 

 tice, and the Dutch florists of his day. The flowers are highly odoriferous, and the plant 

 in pots is in universal request, at all seasons of the year, for placing in rooms. 



6485. Varieties. There is a sub-biennial semi-frutescent variety, rather more odori- 

 ferous than the common sort, which forms an elegant winter plant for the drawingrobm, 

 but which is not yet in very general cultivation. 



6486. Propagation and culture. Rishon, who cultivated this plant extensively for the 

 London market, gives the following instructions, as applicable to the common variety : 

 " To obtain fine plants, strong and ready to blow, during the winter, and through the 

 months of January and February, the seed should be sown in the open ground the end 

 of July ; by the middle of September, the plants from this sowing will be strong enough 

 to be removed into pots ; for a week after this removal, they must be shaded, after which 

 they may be freely exposed to the sun and air, care being taken to protect them by frames 

 from damage by heavy rains, and from injury by early frosts, until the beginning of 

 November, at which time many of them will show their flowers ; and they should then 

 be removed to a green house or conservatory, or to a warm window in a dwellingliouse, 

 where they will branch out, and continue to blo-n^* until the spring. The crop for March, 

 April, and May should be sown in small pots, not later than the 25th of August ; the 

 plants from this sowing will not suffer by exposure to rain, whilst they are young ; they 

 must, however, be protected from early frosts, like the winter crop ; tliey are to be 

 thinned in November, leaving not more than eight or ten plants in each pot ; and at the 

 same time, the i)Ots being sunk about three or four inches in some old tan or coal-ashes, 

 should be covered with a frame, which it is best to place fronting the west : for then the 

 lights may be left open in the evening, to catch the sun whenever it sets clear. The 

 third or spring crop should be sown in pots, not later than the 25th of February ; these 

 must be placed in a frame, on a gentle heat, and as the heat declines, the pots must be 

 let down three or four inches into the dung-bed, which will keep the roots moist, and 

 prevent their leaves turning brown, from the heat of the sun, in April and May. Tlie 

 plants thus obtained will be in perfection by the end of May, and be ready to succeed 

 those raised by the autumnal sowing." {Hort. Trans, ii. 375.) 



6487. The tree-mignonette, according to Sabine, " is to be propagated from seeds sown 

 in spring ; it may also be increased by cuttings, wliicli will readily strike. The young 

 plants should be put singly into small pots, and brought forward by heat, that of a gentle 

 hot-bed being preferable, but they will grow Avell without artificial heat. As they ad- 

 vance, they must be tied to a stick ; taking care to prevent the growth of the smaller 

 side shoots, by pinching them off, but allowing the leaves of tlie main stem to remain on 

 for a time to support and strengthen it. When they have attained the height of about 

 ten inches, or more, according to the fancy of the cultivator, the shoots must be suffered 

 to extend themselves from the top, but must be occasionally stopped at the ends, to force 

 them to form a bushy head, which, by the autumn, will be eight or nine inches in dia- 

 meter, and covered witli bloom. Whilst the plants are attaining their proper size, they 

 should be shifted progressively into larger pots, and may ultimately be left in those of 

 about six inches in diameter at top." [Hort. Trans, iii. 181.) 



SfiCT. II. Border-Flowers. 



6488. Border-fiovoers are hardy plants, with showy blossoms, of easy culture, and their 

 use in floriculture is to decorate the flower-garden, shrubbery, and other spots or borders 

 considered as ornamental. We shall take them in the order of perennials, bulbs, bien- 

 nials, hardy annuals, and half-hardy annuals ; and arrange each of these subdivisions 

 according to their time of flowering, heights, and colors : indicating by letters those requir- 

 ing peat-soil ( ;>) ; such as are rather tender {t) ; such as are m.ost showy (s) ; and such as 

 continue in flower for two or more months (3). At the end of each subdivision we shall 

 give its general mode of propagation and culture. It may be added, that most of the 

 plants mentioned as flowering in any particular month vnll often come into flower the 

 month preceding, and continue in bloom during one or more of the following months. 

 Hence the importance of selecting such flowers as are at once the most easy of cultivation, 

 beautiful in appearance, and that continue longest in flower. 



