THE CULTURE OF SUNFLOWERS. 



43 



sandy and lias a deep sandy subsoil, in which, unless the 

 season be exceptionally wet, Sunflowers will not succeed 

 unless special means are adopted. In all sorts and descriptions 

 of loam, including those that are clayey and somewhat re- 

 tentive, the majority of them are perfectly at home, growing 

 luxuriantly with but little care. The stoloniferous kinds, 

 however, appear to carry on their wanderings a little more 

 freely in light than in heavy soils, an advantage where they are 

 planted in shrubberies or for purposes of naturalisation, but the 

 reverse when occupying the select border, as in one season they 

 not unfrequently get quite three feet, and even four feet, from the 

 spot in which they were originally planted. But for this single 

 fault we must not banish them from the select border, for their 

 golden flowers are particularly showy in summer-time, and the 

 best and only way out of the difficulty is to replant these kinds 

 every year in March or April, selecting the strongest of the buds 

 that have formed at the extremities of the stolons and planting 

 them in groups of twenty or thirty together. Such a group 

 may be two or three feet across, or larger or smaller to suit 

 individual tastes and requirements, and I find that finer flowers 

 result from this treatment than is the case with those left to 

 themselves, while at the same time a more show T y and compact 

 group is obtained. Where the same kinds exist in the shrubbery, 

 it is advisable, annually in autumn when the stems are cleared 

 away, to give a good mulching of thoroughly decomposed manure, 

 or failing this liquid manure freely ; this would prove of equal 

 benefit to shrubs and Sunflowers alike. 



It is worthy of note, I think, considering the great height 

 to which many of the varieties attain, that they are very shallow- 

 rooted even on good ground. H. decaj^etahcs roots somewhat 

 deeper than the generality, while the graceful willow-leaved H. 

 orgyalis roots much the deepest of all, the roots and the woody 

 rootstock being quite as distinct as its leaves and stems. This 

 latter is the only kind that experience has shown to be benefited 

 by allowing it to remain undisturbed for ten or even a dozen 

 years. This species also takes longer to grow into a good-sized 

 specimen than most of them. Never plant it near large trees, 

 but in a perfectly open spot on the lawn in tw 7 o or three feet of 

 good soil. On the other hand, H. multiflorus and its varieties 

 deteriorate considerably if left too long in one spot. Many 



