HOLLYHOCKS. 



51 



of salts, (if it be regularly carried out), without adding common 

 salt : but let this be particularly attended to. The cook should 

 deposit her pickle and brine to good purpose upon the compost 

 heap, instead of splashing it down in front of her kitchen door. 



Let each plant be well staked, and neatly tied to its supporter ; 

 and do not allow two buds to grow side by side upon the same 

 stem, for one will weaken the other. Pinch off the smaller bud. 

 Carnations love warmth ; therefore give them a sunny aspect to 

 blow in. The seedling plants may be treated like young pinks, 

 but this difference must be observed — pinks love shade, and car- 

 nations love warmth. A bed of carnations is a beautiful object. 

 The pots can always be sunk in a border or bed in fine weather. 

 Carnations may be layered, or piped, or slipped for propagation, 



Water your carnations in pots once a week with lime water, if 

 they appear drooping, for this proceeds from a worm at the root ; 

 but the brine will destroy all insects quickly, when poured upon 

 the compost heap. 



In propagating double Wall-flowers, take slips of the young 

 shoots of the head : this will perpetuate the double property and 

 color of the flower, from which they were slipped. In saving 

 seed for wall-flowers, choose the single flowers, which have five 

 petals or flower leaves. Double flowers have no seed. 



Water the slips, and keep them shady and moist : they will 

 root by September. 



Plant your Hollyhocks in September or October, where they 

 are to remain.- Hollyhocks are a noble flower, and they love a 

 strong soil. Let a succession of these flower plants be attended 

 to in the biennial seed-bed. Keep them some inches apart from 

 each other in the seedling-bed, for they form large straggling 

 roots. The hollyhock looks well in clumps of three, at a good 

 distance apart, in large gardens or shrubberies, but they are 

 somewhat too overgrown for smaller parterres. 



