ON ANNUALS. 
05 
from two to five years old will produce more double flowers than 
plants raised from more recent seed. 
Next in importance is the Cockscomb (Celosia cristata.) The 
treatment of these is essentially different from that suited for 
Balsams. As in the case of the last mentioned, a very luxuriant 
growth is chiefly aimed at, while with cockscombs the reverse is 
the desideratum, the principal object of the florist being to pro- 
duce the largest flower on the smallest plant possible ; hence, it 
necessarily follows that, with a plant differently constituted and a 
different object in view, another mode of treatment must be fol¬ 
lowed. That with which I have been most successful is the 
following; though, in the first place, it should be remarked, 
unless seed can be obtained from plants that have produced good 
flowers last summer, it is almost useless to sow it, as disappoint¬ 
ment follows in nine cases out of ten. Having procured good 
seed, sow it moderately thin, in pans or shallow pots, in some 
very old leaf-mould, or other light rich earth. The best season 
for sowing is the middle of March, and one sowing is usually suf¬ 
ficient ; when sown they may be placed in the same frame with 
the young Balsams, or in one at about the same heat (65°) ; as 
soon as they are large enough to handle, pot them off, using the 
same light soil and small pots, one plant in each, and return them 
to the frame ; no water should be given, except what may be 
necessary to settle the earth when sown and repotted. Keep 
them in this frame and in the same pots till they show flowers, 
observing to keep up a good moist heat by the aid of linings to 
the bed; as soon as they show flowers, repot them immediately 
into the pots they are intended to bloom in: the soil used at this 
shift should be just the opposite to that they are growing in—a 
good yellow turfy loam is the best. By this sudden change the 
object of large flowers and small plants is gained, as the plants, by 
being grown in small pots and a light soil, are brought, as it 
were, prematurely into a flowering state, and consequently dwarf 
in habit; and the flowers being situate at the extremity of the 
plant, all the stimuli of the new soil flows at once into them, 
instead of being spent in the production of stem and leaves, and 
so forms the fine large head so generally admired. When the 
plants are placed in the blooming pots, a lively heat must be 
kept up, together with a moist atmosphere, to prevent the attacks 
1 of the red spider, though the extremes of both must be avoided. 
They do not require much water until the flowers are nearly full 
VOL. III. NO. III. K 
