THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
155 
border, and plant the sorts and leave them alone. That is, 
indeed, all yon need do. But if your soil is arid, and your 
climate hot, you must keep the plants well fed all summer 
with weak liquid manure, or with soft water of some sort; 
if from a ditch or pond all the better, as mayhap there will 
be something in it, for pure water is but poor food for plants. 
To obtain stock part and replant in August and September; 
but, before doing so, give the plants a chance to spread, and 
make fine tufts, and show what they are. The following are 
so delightfully fresh, and distinct, and lovely, that, without 
any apology for the imperative mood, we plainly say you must 
have them :— Single and double lilac , single and double purgole, 
single and double rose , single and double white , single and double 
red , single and double yellow , single and double orange. Here 
are twelve sorts in all, that may be purchased in good plants, 
at from sixpence to a shilling each, but as one of them, the 
single yellow, may be found on the nearest hedgerow bank, 
there is sixpence saved, which we beg you to spend on another 
plant of the double red, for when in flower the plant is as like 
a prize bouquet as a fanciful eye could desire. 
Pyrethrum (Feverfew).—The white-flowering “feverfew” 
is sufficiently well known ; as a bedding plant scarcely fit for 
gardens, but of the greatest value in parks and great rough 
places, where its tall weedy growth does not detract from 
its value as a plentiful producer of white flowers. Less 
popular, however, though more deserving of popularity, are 
the varieties of P. roseum , which offer us the most beautiful 
of all the flowers of May in the hardy herbaceous border. 
As, of course, many readers will not, for lack of actual 
knowledge, understand our estimate of their value, it may be 
well to say that the garden pyrethrum provides us at the 
dawn of summer with just such flowers as the asters furnish 
at the summer’s close. Flowers quilled, anemone-centred, 
and variously formed and coloured, as asters are, with the 
advantage of hardiness, for they are as “ hard as nails,” and 
not even a damp soil hurts them seriously. To grow these 
fine plants to perfection, a good old garden soil is required, 
with plenty of manure, and liberal supplies of water in dry 
weather. The autumn is the best time to plant them; but 
if they are purchased in pots, they may be planted at any 
time, except in the depth of winter. They are easily in¬ 
creased by division in August, or seed sown in a slight hot- 
