86 
THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
are grand furniture for autumn display. A rich deep soil is 
requisite, with full exposure to the sun. The best way to 
manage the stock is to strike a sufficiency of cuttings in 
frames about the end of August or early in September, and 
keep them rather dry through the winter, to plant out in 
April. Treat the same as calceolarias in fact, but strike the 
cuttings earlier. The following are splendid bedding varie¬ 
ties : Agnes Laing, Arthur Ale Hardy , Miss Ilay , Mrs. Sterry , 
Shirley Hibherd , Stanstead Surprise. 
Petunia. —This old favourite is now but sparely planted in 
the parterre, but it has certainly not been superseded, and in 
the hot summers of 1868 and 1870, a few of the varieties were 
remarkably showy, and held their own bravely to the very 
end of the season. For hot dry soils and in hot dry seasons 
the petunia is invaluable. In rich soils and in moist seasons 
it does not flower freely, and it grows too rank and green to 
be valued as a bedder. It is an easily-managed plant, pro¬ 
vided the stock is wintered with care in a dry airy house* 
always safe from frost, and with no more water than just 
suffices to keep it green until spring returns. The usual plan 
of multiplying is by cuttings, and the best time to strike them 
is in the latter part of March and early in April. They may 
be struck as late as May, and will, with proper care, make 
good plants to begin flowering in July. The best amongst a 
thousand for bedding is Spitfire , a brilliant purple flower. 
Shrubland Bose , Crimson Bedder , Purple Bedder , and Magnum 
Bonum , afford a sufficient selection of single varieties for all 
ordinary purposes. The double petunias make fine pot plants, 
but are of quite secondary importance as bedders. The best 
of them for outdoor display are Miss Bari , rose, with white 
centre, and Princess , dark crimson. A few of the most useful 
bedding varieties reproduce themselves very faithfully from 
seed, if due care is exercised in saving it. The two varieties 
that can be depended upon most in this respect are Countess 
of Ellesmere , rose, with a light centre, and Prince Albert , deep 
purplish crimson. A bed of striped varieties or of mixed 
sorts, such as white, purple, and rose, has a very charming 
appearance, but of course they are not suitable for a bed that 
occupies a distinctive position in a geometric scheme. Petu¬ 
nias should be grown in rather poor soil, as they grow too 
luxuriantly and become coarse in soil enriched with manure. 
It is also essential to edge the beds with some strong-growing 
