230 
THE STOCK AND WALLFLOWER. 
this is next to impossible. Those drawn out 
generally run more double when carefully 
taken away and planted. The best way is to 
•water the bed well first, and in half an hour 
you may draw them out Without damaging the 
roots. It has been thought by many that the 
check winch Stocks get under the trans- 
planting system are beneficial in producing 
the double flowers; but, generally speaking, 
we think high culture induces it. Certain it 
is, we never saw a sell-sown Stock come double 
when left to bloom in the place in which it came 
up; and some kinds are Very apt to come single, 
and cannot be prevented. Yet w r e feel assured 
that it is not in any case produced by the 
mode of saving the seed, but chiefly by the 
culture. It is worth mentioning that an old 
grow r er, not far from Richmond, many years 
since famous for his double Queen Stocks, used 
to throw out all determined tap-rooted plants, 
and call them single. If this be really an 
indication which we are not yet convinced of, 
it is worth knowing, and, whether it be or not, 
it is worth trying. 
BIENNIAL KINDS OF STOCK. 
These should be sown in May or June, and 
as nearly as possible that time in the next 
year they will flower. The months mentioned 
as those in which they bloom, supposes them 
to be soAvn at the ordinary time for biennials, 
that is, Midsummer, or rather later. These 
are best sown in a good sound border of loam 
and peat, though the soil of a kitchen garden 
not fresh dunged will do for them. Here 
they may remain until they have made some 
considerable growth, and from thence taken to 
where they are to bloom,whether this be in beds, 
borders, or pots. They must, if potted, be only 
one in a pot, of the forty-eight size; and in the 
spring, all that indicate double flowers should be 
transferred to size twenty-four pots, as they will 
grow very much, and the flowers be greatly 
assisted by the additional room. But the 
Giant Brompton, and some of the large kinds 
of biennial Stock, are much too large for pots, 
and will grow, on good ground, three, and 
occasionally four, feet high. They should be 
planted out time enough to establish them- 
selves in the ground before the winter sets 
in, and are only fit for extensive gardens. 
Some of the biennial white Stocks are dwarf 
and handsome ; but Stocks, unlike almost 
every other flower, are never worth saving 
from bad sorts; the fine ones seeding equally 
free; and the disappointment in growing bad 
Stocks is so great, from the extent to which 
it is grown, even in small gardens, that less 
tricks are played with it than any other. 
The only danger is, that where a new sort comes 
up, and is talked of much, the seed of old 
ones, not a quarter the price, is sometimes 
imposed on the seed shops, and from them 
will go to their customers ; but respectable 
houses endeavour to guard against that by 
dealing with none but people they well know, 
or growing it themselves. When the Inter- 
mediate Stock first came before the public, 
it was dear, and certainly some were disap- 
pointed ; but, generally speaking, even the 
German kinds of Stock may be pretty well 
depended on, and will repay the grower for 
his pains, if he has but room to cultivate 
the numerous shades of colour. The frame 
and green-house species of Stock are not 
worth the trouble of growing. 
STOCKS FROM CUTTINGS. 
The biennial Stocks are well worth propa- 
gating from cuttings, and they produce flowers 
in a much more dwarf state. These are taken 
from the side shoots and come soon after 
the bloom ; indeed, if left on the plant they 
would bloom. When taken for cuttings, they 
should be stripped off with part of the heel, or 
cut very close to the plant, and placed under 
a hand-glass, but they should always be taken 
as soon as they are large enough to handle 
well; and if they should indicate bloom before 
they have grown to any size, which they will 
sometimes, it must be pinched out as soon as 
you can get hold of it. When they have rooted 
well, they may be planted out the same as 
seedlings. The only object in raising from 
cuttings, is to perpetuate any really strange 
kind ; for the seed is far preferable, unless it 
be on that account. 
WALLFLOWERS. 
There is a kind of German Wallflower, 
the seed of which is now imported freely, of 
which many come semi-double, of singular 
colours and extraordinary habit. They are 
well worth cultivating, and only require sowing 
in the open ground, planting out, when large 
enough, where they are to grow, and saving 
the seed for another year. Some of these are 
very nearly double, but they have nothing 
about them like the ordinary Wallflowers, 
for the double, or rather the semi-double ones, 
have the organs of generation, and seed freely; 
therefore these hardly come under our present 
notice, except that as they are called Wall- 
flowers, the simple hint now given may be 
useful. With regard to the others, which are 
regularly raised from seed from the single 
varieties, and the double ones of which are 
raised from cuttings, a few observations will 
suffice. The seed should be sown in June or 
July, and when they are up, they should be 
watered as often as required. As soon as they 
are two or three inches high, they should be 
planted out in nursery-beds, or where they are 
to remain for bloom. They will flower very 
