THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
185 
of tlie cottager in the cool of the day, and be struck dumb 
with astonishment at the scintillating beauty of the great 
round dense bushes clothed with bright light green shining 
leaves, and pink, white, scarlet, purple, or rosy flowers, that 
truly glitter as if blessed with a better sort of daylight than 
the grand plants that swelter in the sun in my lord’s garden. 
That brilliant buxom thing is the Marvel of Peru, a marvel 
to me and you; the botanists call it Mirahilis jalajpct; the 
specific name suggesting an unpleasant experience of the 
youthful palate. The plant has small carrot-shaped roots, 
which are kept in sand during winter, and are planted out in 
April or May. If the soil is deep and rich, there never need 
be a drop of water given, and the growth is so orderly and 
self-dependent that sticks and ties are never required. To 
raise them from seed, sow on a hotbed in spring, and plant 
out the seedlings in the early part of June. 
Stock. —Six several chapters might be written on the cul¬ 
tivation of stocks, showing how to manage them as pot plants, 
as bedding plants, for early bloom, for late bloom, and for 
raising seed and new varieties. Our duty is to avoid those 
matters that pertain to the nursery and the market-garden, 
and provide directions for the employment of the stock as a bed¬ 
ding and border plant simply, and a very few words will suffice. 
In the first place we condemn in toto all troublesome and 
complicated methods of procedure, because they necessitate a 
wasteful expenditure of time, and actually tend to the produc¬ 
tion of flowers that are bad in proportion to the time wasted 
upon them. In the next place, we denounce as sheer foolish¬ 
ness all the rules proposed for distinguishing double from 
single stocks when the plants are in a small state. To a cer¬ 
tain extent it is in the cultivator’s power to make them all 
double, and our simple code of culture will indicate the proper 
order of procedure. Home-grown seed is rarely of any use; 
indeed, the production of good seed is an art demanding more 
skill and patience than any average amateur can devote to it. 
Secure the best seed possible from a first-class house, and sow 
it on any day between the 10th and 30th of March. The seed- 
pans or pots should be filled with light rich soil, consisting of 
about equal parts of leaf-mould, rotten manure, and sandy 
loam. The proper place for the seed-pans is a cold frame, and 
it will be well to lay slates, tiles, or sheets of glass over them, 
to assist germination and render watering unnecessary. If 
