AUTUMN STOCKS. 
205 
by drawing up weakly, as would be the case if they stood thickly 
together. 
The potting should not be deferred beyond the early part of 
October; in doing this it is usual to put three plants into a three- 
inch pot, though it is preferable to place but one plant in each 
pot, if sufficient room can be spared to accommodate them through 
the winter. The soil should be sandy loam alone ; this suits them 
best, because, though never excessively wet, it retains moisture 
for a long time in a moderate quantity, and thus precludes the 
necessity of frequent applications of water, than which nothing 
is more injurious : Stocks will bear a great degree of cold when 
the foliage is dry, but stagnant moisture is positively fatal to them. 
After potting they should be left out of doors on a warm sunny 
spot, as long as may be considered safe, and if precaution is 
taken to hoop them over, that protection may be given from the 
autumnal frosts, they may in dry seasons be left out till the 
middle of November: by this time they will have rooted well and 
grown considerably; being divested of dead leaves, and the 
surface of the mould and the pots thoroughly cleaned, they should 
be placed in the frames that are to guard them through the re¬ 
mainder of the winter. It is not positively necessary that they 
occupy the best frames, as almost any make-shift affair will keep 
them, though, as a matter of course, the more carefully they are 
preserved, the better they will look in the spring, and unless they 
are not wanted till time has been given for them to grow at that 
season, it would be unwise to subject them to much frost; those 
required to bloom early must be nursed more particularly than 
the late flowering ones. An excellent protection may be given to 
the most forward by means of turf-pits covered with spare lights, 
while for the later plants a mat thrown over in severe weather is 
usually sufficient. 
In February they should be repotted, each one by itself into a 
four-inch pot, using on this occasion rich soil, composed of equal 
parts loam and thoroughly decomposed manure ; on the strength 
of this mixture depends much of the future display. Most 
persons have heard of the ancient infallible method of determin¬ 
ing the double ones from the single by means of the roots; all 
those with branching fibrous roots, says the recipe, are certain to 
produce double flowers, while those with a descending tap root are 
