m 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.—May 13, 1800. 
flowers on shorter flower-stalks, and coming from all 
parts of the plant, continuously, during the summer. 
The herbaceous ones, where treated so as to bloom 
several times during the summer, do so in successional 
efforts, each period of a mass of bloom being followed 
by one in which there are few or uo flowers. On this 
account, the herbaceous ones have come to be treated 
more particularly as florists’ flowers and for pot-culture; 
and the shrubby ones for pot-culture and the flower-beds 
in summer. Many hybrids have been and are con¬ 
stantly being raised between the two groups, having a 
semi-shrubby habit and largish flowers; and these are 
very attractive as pot plants ; but after trying many of 
them in beds, I must say, that though exceedingly rich 
at times, I have met with none that bloom so con¬ 
tinuously as the older small-flowered varieties. There 
has been little advance among florist’s flowers of late, 
though many are extremely beautiful. When we look 
back at such species as Gorymbosa and Arachnoides, which 
scarcely any one now would grow, and look at a stage 
of five flowers, we must at once own the power of the 
hybridist in producing improved forms of beauty. 
Characteristics of a good Flower.—I f the flowers 
are equally good, the more shrubby the plants are the 
better, as the foliage makes a fine back ground for the 
flowers. The larger the flower, the better it will be, 
provided it is circular in outline, without crumples or 
serratures, and convex or globular in shape, instead of 
flat: the mouth of the purse cannot be too small; the 
colour should bo bright, if a self; and if spotted, or 
blotched, the ground colour should be clear and distinct, 1 
and the spots, &c., well marked, not running, or fouling, 
into each other, or feathering into the ground colour. 
Time and mode of Propagation. —By seed for new 
varieties, and for continuing the species, and by cut¬ 
tings and divisions. 
By Seed.— The herbaceous and half-shrubby group 
are worse to manage than the shrubby ones from cut¬ 
tings, and seedlings are so much more easily grown, 
that many who use these plants for spring and early 
summer decoration, pay some attention to hybridising 
the best flowers, selecting a well-formed flower for the 
mother, and bringing to it the pollen of a bright- 
coloured spotted one for the father, and having secured 
the seed, pay little more attention to the plants, unless 
there is something extra fine about them. By this 
mode the plants are got rid of at the rubbish-heap just 
at the time that they require some attention to keep 
them healthy. 
Time of Sowing. —Some do this as soon as the seeds 
I are obtained in June and July, in order to have the 
plants some size before winter. I consider the second 
week in August quite early enough. I have sown in the 
second week in September, and had large flowering 
plants in twelve-inch pots in May. They grow very 
fast in the eud of autumn, and after the turn of the 
day in spring. The second and third week in August 
may be considered good medium times. Proceed thus— 
Select a piece of ground in a shady corner, and there 
place a handlight, or more, if you want a good many 
plants. Strew the ground on which the handlight is to 
inches of rough coal-ashes, and when the glass is put 
rest, and a space round it, with salt. On this, place two 
down, place two or three more inches of the ashes inside. 
These are precautions against worms and slugs. Then 
take one, or several six-inch pots; fill them half full 
with drainage, then an inch of roughish soil, filling up 
to within half-an-inch of the rim with fine, light, sandy 
loam, containing a little fine-sifted leaf-mould. Press 
the surface, and then water the pots well, and allow 
them to drain for a day ; then place a very little fine, 
dryish soil on the surface, press gently down, to make 
smooth, and sow the small seeds, and scatter over them 
the smallest quantity of fine sand. Press level again, 
place a square of glass over the pot, and set it under¬ 
neath the hand-light. If that is kept close, and the 
ashes inside moist, the seedlings will seldom want 
watering until they are fairly up, a matter of consider¬ 
able importance. When fairly up, lift the top of the 
hand-light a little; as they get a little larger, edge up 
the square of glass over the pot, first at night, and then 
during the day. When a little larger, move the square 
of glass altogether, and give more air by the top of the 
hand-light. By this time the tiny plants will have a 
few little leaves, though it would be difficult, as yet, to 
handle them singly. To prevent them damping at the 
surface, lift little patches of several plants together, and 
prick these patches, an inch or so apart, in pots pre¬ 
pared as if for cuttings, or in shallow pans. If before 
this, notwithstanding the dampness of the ashes, the 
surface of the soil should be dry, soak it well, not by 
a rose over-head, but flooding the surface of the pot, 
by pouring the water on a piece of tile close to the 
edge of the pot. Many young seedlings, if small, are 
destroyed by watering over head; they rot off just 
at the surface of the soil. When thus pricked out, and 
watered by sailing the surface, place under handlights 
again, and keep close for a few days. In two or three 
weeks the little piatches will want to have the plants 
pricked out separately, giving them about one inch or 
so a piece. As the autumn gets on, the strongest to 
bloom in April and May may have each a four-inch pot, 
and be shifted to a larger one before the end of October; 
but the chief supply may be pricked out into shallow 
pans, a couple of inches apart, or four be placed 
round the sides of a five-inch pot. If there are more 
than is wanted, rather prefer the smallest, weakest- 
growing plants. They will soon acquire strength. 
Moisture, if not stagnant about them, will do little 
injury to them in winter. I have had them in fine 
order, with the protection of a cold frame in winter, 
paying great attention to air, and j-ust securing them 
from frost. They are easily kept from frost in a 
greenhouse, heated by a flue or water-pipes; but 
a close, warm, dry atmosphere is their bane. They 
will do well in a temperature ranging from 35° to 45°, 
with air and moisture in proportion. Jn greenhouses, 
they will be much benefited if set or partly plunged 
in damp moss. I have grown them rapidly, even in 
winter, at 45° to 55° ; but they stood in damp ashes, 
or moss, and had plenty of air. Whenever the pots 
are full of roots the plants will be inclined to 
throw up their flower-stems, and, therefore, they must 
be potted on, to prevent the roots matting, when large 
specimens are required. May and June are the best 
months for the herbaceous ones. Seedlings will bloom 
well in six-inch pots. Plants sown in August would fill 
that size, and bloom in May. To bloom in June and 
July, they must be shifted at the end of April and the 
end of May. When a small plant proves good, and it is 
desirable to make a fine specimen, it is best to sacrifice 
all flower-stems, and give it a large pot, and in about 
six weeks it will bloom again. This is, also, a good 
plan to follow when it is desirable to get cuttings of a 
valuable kind early, as the young shoots are encouraged 
to grow. Seeds sown in March, April, or May, will 
bloom in summer and autumu, they should be kept under 
glass at first, but after June will do best in a shady 
place out-of-doors. 
Propagating by Cuttings. —The best time for florists’ 
flowers is as soon as the young shoots can be got after 
flowering—generally the end of August, though cuttings 
will root at any time. They also strike freely in the 
spring with a mild bottom-heat. Those truly herbaceous 
may likewise be divided. The pots should be prepared 
as for seeds, only having very sandy soil, or half-an-inch 
of sand on the surface. A north border, under hand- 
lights, is the best place for cuttings in summer and 
