66 
THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
power for a long time, and therefore that nearly all the seeds that are sown are likely to produce plants ; and 
lastly, that from the quantity of nitrogen they contain, they want food which produces it, and therefore they 
require nourishment with animal manure. These are all very important points to be kept in view by the 
grower of Cruciferous annuals—the first shows that the seeds should be sown where they are to remain, or, if 
transplanted, that a ball of earth should be kept round their roots; the second, that they may be sown safely in 
the open air; the third, that the seeds need not be sown very thick ; and the fourth, that they will require a rich 
soil, well manured. 
GENUS I. 
MATHIOLA, R. Br. THE STOCK. 
Lin. Syst. TETRAD YN AMI A SILIQUOSA. 
Generic Character. — Silique somewhat cylindrical. Stigmas connivent, thickened or horned on the back. Calyx bisaccate at the base.— 
(G. Don.) 
Description, &c. — The splendid flowers called stocks, and stock-gilliflowers, are too well known to require 
description. Most of the kinds are biennial, or shrubby ; and, indeed, almost the only annual kind known in 
British gardens, is the common ten-week stock (Mathiola annua), and its varieties. The stocks were formerly 
included in the genus Cheiranthus (the wall-flower), but they were separated from it by Dr. Brown, principally 
on account of a difference in the formation of the stigma. 
1. MATHIOLA ANNUA, Sweet. THE ANNUAL OR TEN-WEEK STOCK. 
Engravings. — Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, in our plate 11. 
Synonymes. —Cheiranthus incanus, Lin. Mathiola incana var. R. 
Br. Ilesperis gestiva, Lom. 
Varieties. —There are perhaps few species of which there are more 
varieties. Some of the single kinds are white, some striped (see fig. 1, 
in Plate 11), some spotted, some purple, and some crimson ; and of the 
double kinds the variety is still greater. The double-flowered purple 
(fig. 2), and the double white (fig. 3), are particularly beautiful. Some 
of the kinds called German stocks are very curious, particularly the 
brick-red variety (fig. 4). Besides these, there are among the double 
kinds, the crimson, the blush, the pink, the scarlet, the lilac, the rose- 
coloured, the brown, and the brown-purple. Seeds of all these kinds, 
and of many intermediate shades, may be purchased in the seed-shops. 
Upwards of sixty sorts were grown for many years in the Hammersmith 
nursery, including what are called Russian, Prussian, and German 
stocks ; perhaps the most curious are those striped with three distinct 
colours—white, purple, and crimson ; and perhaps the handsomest the 
common double crimson. The new giant stock is a very tall, strong¬ 
growing variety, with enormously large flowers. 
Specific Character. Stem erect, branched. Leaves lanceolate, 
blunt, hoary. Pods somewhat cylindrical, without glands. (G. Don.) 
Description, &c.— -A plant growing from one to two feet high, with an erect branching stem, hoary leaves, 
and long spikes of flowers ; the size and richness of colour of these flowers vary greatly in the different varieties, 
and some of them are very splendid. The species is a native of the South of Europe by the sea-shore, whence 
it was introduced in 1731; but the principal varieties have been originated in England and Germany. The 
German varieties are particularly beautiful ; and the seed saved in that country, from the greater heat of the 
