OF ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 67 
summers, and the great care bestowed by the weavers of Saxony, who are the principal growers of it, is very 
superior to seed saved in England. What are called the Russian and Prussian varieties, are, generally speaking, 
all grown in Upper-Saxony by the weavers, who take as much pleasure in growing and saving the seed of their 
stocks, as the Lancashire weavers do in England in growing their pinks and carnations. Home-saved seed can 
rarely be depended upon, as, where several varieties are grown near together, spurious varieties are made by the 
wind carrying the pollen from one plant to another, and the seed can never be kept true. Regular seed-growera 
preserve only the plants with the best flowers, and throw the other plants away. Russian and Prussian stocks 
were so called because they were introduced about the time of Bonaparte's retreat from Moscow, when the names 
of Russia and Prussia were fashionable. 
The best seed of the German stocks is said to be procured at Carter's, Holbom ; but very good may be had at 
Lee's (from whose nursery we have had sixty distinct kinds), and Charlwood's. 
To produce the finest flowers, the seed should be sown in August, in a bed of rather light soil, which should 
be covered with a frame ; or the seed may be sown in pots, four or five in a pot, and placed in a cold frame. A 
cold frame means a pit or frame covered with glass, but not heated by manure, or in any other manner. The 
plants, when they come up, should be kept dry during the winter, to strengthen them, and prevent them from 
damping ofl^, and in April they should be taken out of their beds, with a ball of earth round their roots, or, if in 
a pot, turned out with the ball entire, and planted in a warm border, in very rich soil. The poor soil that they 
were raised in will have previously checked their growth ; but planting them in the rich soil after this previous 
check, will make them grow luxuriantly, and produce rich spikes of flowers in June. 
Those persons who wish to have fine stocks to flower early in the summer, but who have not a frame to raise 
them in, or indeed do not like to be troubled with keeping any plants during winter, will find it their best 
plan to purchase young plants in April or May from a nurseryman, and to plant them in rich soil where they 
will flower as above stated. These autumn-sown plants have, however, the disadvantage of fading very soon, 
when exposed to the heat of summer. Their fibrous roots wither, and their dark colours become blotched, or 
blanched by the sun. The dark purple, in particular, is very apt to become streaked or spotted with white. 
From this disadvantage, spring-sown plants are free. If sown in February, March, or April, in a dry poor soil, 
they may be transplanted into a rich soil in April or May, taking care to preserve earth round the roots, and not 
to injure the fibres, though in some cases the extreme point of the tap-root may be taken ofi", to induce it to throw 
out more fibres. Other seeds may be sown in May, which will not need transplanting, and which, if preserved 
from the frost, will continue flowering till Christmas. 
Some persons, to make tlie plants produce larger flowers, take off the side shoots as they appear, and thin the 
blossom-buds on the spike of flowers by taking off every alternate bud ; and others water with liquid manure, 
&c., to produce fine plants. In whatever manner they are treated, it must always be remembered that they 
require great care in transplanting, and that they should be transplanted when quite young. The gfjneral rule is, 
that plants are fit for transplanting when they have opened their second pair of leaves ; and that the trans- 
planting should not be delayed longer than a little after they have produced their third pair. When large plants 
are removed, it should always be with such a ball of earth attached, that the roots may experience no check from 
the removal. When the stocks are planted out in the borders for flowering, they are generally placed three 
together in an angular form, so as to allow room for a stake to be placed in the centre to tie them to, if necessary. 
e2 
