312 



SHRUBBERIES AND FI.OWER-GARDENS. 



[chap. 



spiked. — Lat. O. Pyrenaicum. A hardy perennial plant, originally 

 from the Pyrenees, one or two feet high, and blows a yellow flower 



in May and June. Star of Bethlehem, common. — Lat. O. 



umhellatum. A hardy perennial plant of England, from six to 

 nine inches high, and blow^s a white flower in May and June. 

 Both sorts propagated by the offsets, taken from the plants in the 

 autumn, and planted directly. 



578. STOCK, the Brompton. — Lat. Cheiranthus coccineus. 

 The stock, if not a native of England, is completely naturalized, 

 and has been cultivated here with greater success, perhaps, than in 

 a^iy other country. There are four distinct sorts that I shall 

 mention, because these are all of them most deserving of being 

 cultivated in the flower-garden, where they produce show, odour, 

 and durability, surpassed by none. The Brompton stock grows to 

 about two feet high when flourishing, has long hoary leaves, 

 narrow, and rather waved at the edges, and, above the foliage, 

 there rises a stalk studded round thickly with scarlet double 

 flowers each as large as a small rose, and which appear in May 

 and June. This plant is a biennial, and should therefore be sown 

 in the spring or summer, and treated accordingly ; but as it 

 suffers from the frosts of winter, w-hen brought on too forward 

 the first summer, it is best not to sow till the middle or latter 

 end of June. Raise the plants in a frame, and keep them 

 thinned out, in order that, though not large, w^hen winter comes 

 on, they may still not be weak. Plant out the young plants in 

 the fall, and, if the winter be very severe, and if you have the means 

 of doing it, cover them with litter during such severity ; as, 

 though frosts must be very hard indeed to kill them, yet a severe 

 winter will spoil their blossom-buds and cause them to blow but 



little, and single.- Stock, Queens. — Lat. C. incanus. This is 



also a biennial; grows a foot or more high, producing white, red, 

 or purple double flow^ers in May and June ; but these come on 

 innumerable branches which this stock sends out from its main 

 stalk on each side. Leaf like the former ; and it is cultivated 



like the former. Stock, ten-iceek. — Lat. C. annuus (or qua- 



rantain, forty-day), is a very handsome and sw^eet little annual 

 plant, blowing from May to September or October. It grows 

 from twelve to eighteen inches high, wath greyish coloured leaves, 

 branches out a little, and, if from good seed, bears double flowers, 

 red, white, or purple ; equal to either of the preceding in odour, 



