190 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 15. 
absorb less solar beat than a flaming or even a dull 
brick red, like the common earthenware pots, Provided 
the pots are secured, and tlie plants are protected from 
heavy autumn rains, the plants would enjoy full ex¬ 
posure during the day before they were permanently 
housed in the end of autumn. 
EPACRTSES WITH SOFT-WOODED PLANTS. 
My space is exhausted; but, having presented no 
strong inducement to our one-house supporters to 
attempt much with Heaths in their mixed collections, 
I can unreservedly recommend Epacrises, the Heaths 
of Australasia, to their notice—whether their house be a 
greenhouse-vinery, or a greenhouse proper, and chiefly, 
because they will be able to give them the treatment 
they require, and be troubled with no mildew, and few 
other ailments; and, also, .because great numbers of 
varieties have been advertised in these columns, at 
such a price, even in these times, as to place them 
within the reach of all who have any sort of ft house. 
Another inducement is, that the whole of them may be 
made to bloom in winter or early spring. The treat¬ 
ment has been previously given; allow me to recapitu¬ 
late the principal points. 
• The bloom is most beautiful on the most of them 
when produced thickly on longish young shoots. This 
furnishes the key-note for this culture. Prune well back 
when the plants have done flowering, after giving them 
a week or two to rest; keep in the warmest, closest part 
of a greenhouse, in a vinery, or even stove-heat will not 
hurt them, until the young shoots are growing freely; 
then, when growing freely, shift into larger pots if re- 
| quired, using Heath soil, silver sand, and a fair amount 
of broken charcoal, lumps of free stone, or broken 
crocks, from which the dust is excluded. Keep close 
and a little shady, until fresh growth is again rapidly 
progressing, then begin to give a drier atmosphere and 
more air. By the middle of September, shield from 
heavy rains and cold nights, but expose the plants as 
much as possible to the sun during the day, as that 
will ripen the wood, and set the flower-buds; lessen 
w r ater at the roots os the days shorten, and by the 
middle of October make preparations for setting them 
again iu-doors. R. Fish. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
(Continued from page 177.) 
THE STOCK. 
In may last paper on this flower, which, when well 
i grown, every body admires, I endeavoured to describe 
i the culture of the Intermediate Stocks in pots. Our 
j readers must not draw the inference that because that 
i variety is a desirable one for that purpose, the other 
annuals of the Stock are not fit for the sfime purpose. 
The scarlet, white, and purple, Ten-week Stock , as well 
as the German, Hussion, and \V<dlJIouer-leaeed varieties, 
are equally handsome grown in pots. The only objection 
is, that these varieties do not produce so many double 
flowers ; but that objection may be got overby growing a 
sufficient number, and allowing them to produce their 
buds previously to their final potting in their blooming- 
pots. When the buds have made so much progress as to 
show whether they are double or not, then select out the 
double ones, and either throw the single ones away, or 
plant them in the shrubbery borders; putting the others 
singly into five-inch pots, and treating them exactly like 
the Intermediates. 
Culture oe ttif. Biennial Stocks. —These are the 
red, or scarlet and purple J> romp ton, and the white and 
purple Queen. The former generally produce only 
single flower-stems: hence their 13otanical_specific name, 
is simplicicaulis, simple-stemmed. I saw, a few days 
ago, in a cottage-garden of very humble pretentions, a fine 
example of this single-stemmed Stock. It was the ! 
scarlet variety, and was growing in a very narrow 
border close to the wall under the window. It was two- | 
and a-lialf feet high; the spike of flowers measured ! 
fourteen inches, thickly set with blooms, each almost as | 
large as a Provence Rose, and quite perfect, from the j 
bottom of the spike to the top. 'The colour was also 
perfect, not the least trace of variegation being visible, j 
We praise specimens of Heaths, Pimelias, and other 
plants, at the Grand Metropolitan Exhibitions, and 
rightly, too; but this poor cottager’s Stock gave me 
quite as much pleasure, and, in its way, was quite as i 
fine a specimen of good culture and appearance. I 
understood it came up from self-sown seed, and had 
never been disturbed. Near it was a single-flowered 
one, which was intended for seed. The cottager had 
the old-fashioned notion, that the proximity of a double I 
flower was necessary in order to have a progeny pro- j 
ducing double flowers. 
Biennial Stocks should be sown about the end of ! 
June. If sown earlier, they become so large apd full of ! 
sap that the frost is almost sure to destroy them; and 
if sown much later they do not acquire strength 
enough to bloom well. Sow them on a prepared bed of 
light, rich earth, covering the seed but slightly. If the 
weather is moist they will soon come up, and when 
they are large enough, they must be transplanted. If 
allowed to stand too long in the seed-bed they become 
week and spindly, and never flower well; but if trans¬ 
planted early they form nice, stiff, bushy plants. - In 
this nursery-bed they may remain till September. 
Sometime previously to that the blooming bed should 
be prepared. A south border is the best situation. The 
ground, if not dry, should be well drained. The best 
way to accomplish this is to throw out the soil of the 
intended bed two feet deep, and then put in six inches 
thick of brick-rubbish, covering it with a thin layer of 
littery straw from the stable. The Stock loves a loamy 
soil not too much enriched with manure. For this 
thickness of eighteen inches, a layer of well-decomposed 
hotbed manure, two inches thick, will be quite sufficient. 
If the natural soil of the border has been under cultiva¬ 
tion for several years, at least one-half of it ought to 
be removed, and replaced with fresh loam, that has been 
laid on a heap in the compost-yard for twelve months. 
The upper, exhausted soil is the part that ought to be 
removed. When the bed has been thus prepared, 
and the manure, the fresh loam, and the subsoil, well 
mixed and incorporated for about a month, it will be : 
fit to receive the plants. 
Choose, if possible, a moist time for the operation of I 
planting. Take up the plants with a hollow garden- 
trowel, one by one, keeping the balls as entire as j 
possible. Plant them with the same implement at nine i 
inches apart every way, pressing the soil firmly to each I 
plant. Should the weather bo dry and parching, give j 
them a good watering, and shade them with hoops and 
mats for a few days, till they are able to bear the full ; 
light of the sun; and then, excepting keeping clear of j 
weeds, they will require no farther care till they bloom, I 
unless tbe winter should be very wet, succeeded by i 
severe frost; in such a case, in order to make sure j 
of the plants being preserved, it will be advisable to 
replace the hoops, and protect them with mats, or, what 
is better, with some prepared cloth made water-proof, i 
Great care, however, must be taken that these shelters 
are not kept on in mild weather; for if they are, the 
leaves are almost certain to become mildewed and decay. 
Remove the shelter entirely as soon as the severe part 
of the winter has passed away, for a moderate late frost | 
will not hurt them. 
All this care and attention may appear too much to I 
bestow upon such a common thing us the Stock, but I 
