388 



THE (GARDEN AND FIELD. 



February, 1914 



want but one or two watering-s till 

 the seed germinates, which should 

 be in about a fortnight. 



When the seedlings have four 

 leaves prick them off into a box 

 or pot, well drained, and having a 

 soil composed of leaf mould, loam, 

 and sand in it. Here they mav 

 be kept until their leaves cover 

 the top of the pot, when they may 

 be repotted off singly into thumlD 

 pots or into a nursery bed, and 

 from thence into permanent posi- 

 tions. 



In raising plants from seed, even 

 good seed, there is bound to be a 

 certain percentage of worthless 

 blooms, and these being inferior in 

 color or form, should be taken up 

 as soon as their uselessness is de- 

 termined. The dirty purolv colors 

 are anything but beautiful. The 

 following points will help the be- 

 ginner to determine if , his seed- 

 lings are good or bad. 



" The plant should be healthy; 

 the foliage large and abundant ; 

 the stem stout enough to bear the 

 truss well up above the leaves ; 

 from the centre of the leaves the 

 stem should rise ; the truss should 

 consist of at least five flowers, and 

 the footstalks of each flower be 

 able to support each bloom level 

 with the rest. Kach flower, or 

 pip, should be round and flat, 

 neither inclined to cup or reflex. 

 The pips should be divided near 

 the outermost edge into 'segments: 

 each division, or segment, .should 

 bei slightly indented or scolloped 

 in the centre. Kach flower .should 

 have a yellow centre or eye ; in 

 the centre of that there should ap- 

 pear a tube containing the an- 

 thers, but the pistil .should not be 

 there. This yellow centre, inchid- 

 ing the tube, should be of the 



Flower Seedlings ! 



for present Planting. 



Asters, Balsam, Zinnia, Cosmos, 

 Correopsis, Sunflower, Centaurin, 

 Phlox, Petunia, etc., at if- per 

 loo ; posted, 2/6. 



Plants for Pazaars, etc., at whole- 

 sale rate — Coleus, Ferns, Begonias, 

 Palms, Fuchsias. 



E. A. LASSCOCK, 



LOCKLEYS. 



'Phone, Henley 34 



same width as the ground, or 

 body, color, which color should be 

 bright, clear, and distinct. Round 

 this body color the margin or lac- 

 ing should appear of a imiform 

 width surrounding each petal, and 

 continuing down the centre of each 

 to the yellow e}'e. The color of 

 this lacing or margin should be 

 imiform, whether it is sulphur, le- 

 mon, or clear yellow." 



♦ 



The Petunia. 



The Petimia is one of our best 

 florist flowers, and has many 

 points to recommend it. It is 

 easily cultivated by amateur gar- 

 deners, can be had in flower eight 

 or nine months of the year, is good 

 for pot culture, has a nice per- 

 fume, and above all, it can be 

 beaded out through our hottest 

 summers, formine a mass of rich 

 colors, which is rarely exceeded by 

 any other flower. 



— Hybridising. — 



There is no denying this is one 

 of the most important parts in the 

 cultivation of florist flowers, for 

 without the aid of the hybridiser 

 it would have been impossible to 

 see flowers in their present state 

 of perfection. The best time to 

 do this is l>etween nine and one on 

 a warm day, as the flowers have 

 the greatest amount of vigour in 

 them at that time. The flowers 

 should be of nearly the same 

 age ; if not, there is a tendency to 

 throw back to the original. The 

 flower that is to be operated upon 

 should have the anthers taken 

 from it before being a;uite open, 

 so as to prevent self-fertilisation. 

 Some judgment is required in the 

 selection of the plants, for very 

 often a weak-constituted plant pro- 

 ducts the best flowers (especially 

 in doubles) ; his aim is then to 

 cross on to a robust-srrow''"'' v;- ' 

 In the matter of the colors of 

 flowers, they ought to be clean and 

 distinct ; also even shapes should 

 be ii.sed. The next thing is to tie 

 a piece of twine roimd the bottom 

 of the flower, and when the seed 

 vessel has turned ibrown, the seed is 

 ready for gathering. 



A great deal has been done by 

 amateurs, it is to be hoped that 

 they will still continue to take a 

 greater interest in this part of cul- 

 tivation. Not only do they 'raise 

 their own .seeds, but look forward 

 to getting something .superior to 

 the original and, if not successful. 



there is not the same amount of 

 disappointment as if the plants or 

 seeds were bought elsewhere. 

 Again, it is an inducement to ama- 

 teurs to love floriculture, which is 

 considered the most healthy of 

 recreations. There is one other 

 point, and that is, never to throw 

 away the smallest seedlings in pc' 

 tunias and a great many other 

 florist flowers, as they invariably 

 turn out the best, but a great 

 many people would disregard this, 

 and choo.se large plants, thinking 

 they had more for their money. 



— Cuttings. — 



The best time to strike these is 

 vyhen the w6od is fresh and full of 

 vigor. If small side shoots can- 

 not be had a part of the plant 

 .should be cut iDack, and after two 

 or three weeks the breaks will be 

 ready to take off, when they may 

 be put round the sides of pots or 

 pans, in very sandy soil, then cowr 

 with some glass, keep close and 

 shaded from bright sunshine, and 

 in about a fortnight to three 

 weeks they will have rooted. Pot 

 into two and a half inch pots, 

 and treat as seedlings. Cuttlings 

 of flowering branches or old wood 

 should never be used, as these will 

 never make good plants. Seed.intrs 

 are preferable to cuttings, as they 

 are generally more robust than 

 plants raised in this way. In per- 

 petuating named or good kinds 

 cuttings ought to be tafcen often 

 during summer months, have 

 young plants in stock. 



— Diseases and Insect Pests. — 



Of all the florist flowers the pe- 

 tunia is the least attacked by dis- 

 ea.se, and this ought to be consid- 

 ered another point in favor of its 

 more general cultivation. It some- 

 times happens that an old olant 

 gets attacked by a rust or, fungus 

 if kept too wet. If we had no- 

 thing more than this to contend 

 with there would be little cause of 

 complaint, but the slug, the snail, 

 and, worse than these, the .spar- 

 row, have the greatest liking for 

 the petunia. One remedy for the 

 .slug is to get some lime, and air- 

 slack it before using ; put some 

 into a small flour bag, and shake 

 over the ground, about 8 in the 

 e\-ening ; if a few particles of dust 

 get on the slug it will kill it. The 

 surest way is to hand pick this 

 and the snail for a few nights. In 

 regard to the sparrow nui.sance, it 

 is a diflTicult matter to find a re- 

 medy. It is only while the plants 

 are young that anythincr is to be 

 feared from these pests. 



