176 HARDY PERENNIALS 
edges of the pots. Place in a frame and keep close 
and shaded. When rooted the cuttings should be 
potted off singly, and kept in a frame until the end 
of April or beginning of May. 
The bed should be deeply dug and well manured. 
Cow manure is excellent except on cold retentive 
clay; in such soil it is better to use well-rotted 
stable manure and if possible some half-rotted 
leaves. Mortar rubble is also useful on heavy soil. 
Give the plants plenty of room, water liberally, 
and when flower spikes begin to rise either sprinkle 
a good fertilizer around the plants or give frequent 
soakings with soot-water and liquid manure. If the 
number of side shoots are reduced by pinching while 
small and soft, the flower spikes will be stronger and 
finer. Each spike should be neatly looped to a 
stake, for the stems are weighty and are brittle at 
the joints. 
For ordinary bedding purposes a good strain of 
seed will produce good stock, providing a good range 
of bright colours, but it must be admitted that the 
finest effects are obtained by massing individual 
colours rather than by planting in mixture. 
Very different, but very useful and beautiful, are 
some of the species of Pentstemon. P. barbatus is 
a tall and extremely elegant plant. Its individual 
blossoms are small, narrow, tubular in shape, but 
they are arranged in a very pleasing manner on tall, 
branching stems, and their colour is an intense 
coral red. P. glaber is comparatively dwarf and 
