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The flower garden. 
Cosmos. — A genus of half-hardy annuals with single 
Dahlia-like blossoms, natives of Mexico, and members of the 
Daisy order (Compositae). C. bipinnatus has feathery, 
fennel-like foliage, grows 3 to 4ft. high, and bears 
reddish-purple flowers with yellow centres in summer 
and autumn. There is a white-flowered variety named 
albiflorus, and a strain called hybridus, bearing flowers 
of various shades of rose, purple, crimson, pink and white. 
These showy border annuals require to be raised from seed 
in heat in March, transplanted 3in. apart in boxes in April, 
hardened off in cold frames early in May, and planted out 
i8in. to 2ft. apart in rich soil in sunny borders at the end of 
May. 
Cotyledon. — The plants known in gardens under the 
names of Echeveria metallica and Echeveria secunda glauca 
are, strictly speaking, species of the genus Cotyledon. C. 
metallica is a succulent-leaved plant with purplish, glaucous 
spoon-shaped leaves, and grows 1 to 2ft. high. It is used as 
a “dot” plant in ornamental bedding, being planted out early 
in June and removed into a greenhouse or frame in autumn. 
C. secunda is a dwarf species with glaucous red-tipped leaves. 
C. secunda glauca has bluish-white leaves, and C. secunda 
glauca major, larger leaves than the latter. These kinds are 
used as edgings to flower beds and for lines in carpet bedding. 
They may be planted out late in April or early in May. In 
October they require to be lifted and planted close together 
in shallow boxes, or in a bed, in a cold frame till the following 
spring. All the foregoing bear pretty red and yellow flowers 
on curved stems during the summer. When used for carpet 
bedding the flowers are usually pinched off. They are easily 
reared from seed sown in sandy soil, the seeds being merely 
covered by a dusting of silver sand. The pots or boxes may 
be placed in gentle heat or in a cold frame, shaded from sun. 
The seedlings must be transplanted as soon as large enough 
to handle into other boxes, grown on till June, then planted 
out in the beds. C. secunda and its varieties are also increased 
by offsets removed at lifting time and inserted in boxes of 
sandy soil in a cold frame. Or the offsets may be taken off in 
summer and planted in a shady border, where they will soon 
root. If the flower stems are removed from C. metallica before 
the buds open, and these are cut off, and the stems inserted 
in sandy soil in a greenhouse, offsets will form in the axils 
of the stem leaves, and these can be taken off and inserted in 
pots to make young plants. C. Umbilicus (Common Navel- 
wort, or Penny-wort) is a native plant, which grows wild in the 
crevices of rocks and old walls in the West of England. It 
has orbicular leaves and yellow flowers borne in June. This 
