Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/271

259 HARDY PERENNIALS.] under a hand light, or in the open ground in a shady situation ; they may be planted an inch apart in rows 2 or 3 inches asunder, and should be pressed firmly into the soil. When rooted, which will be about August, they should be planted 4 inches apart in a nursery bed, where they may remain till the latter part of September or the early part of October. The chief attention required during winter is to press them down firmly should they become lifted by frosts, and in spring the ground should be frequently stirred and kept free from weeds. As the flowering stems grow u-p they should be supported by sticks, and when the buds appear they should be assisted to burst regularly by tying a soft ligature round them. The pink is also raised from seeds, not only to obtain new varieties, but to keep up a race of vigorous growing sorts. The seeds maybe sown in March or April, in pots in a warm frame, and the young plants may be pricked off into boxes and sheltered in a cold frame. They should be planted out in the early part of the summer in nursery beds, in which, if they have space, they may remain to flower, or the alternate ones may be transplanted to a blooming bed in September or the . early part of October; in either case they will bloom the following summer. These will grow in any good garden soil, but the richer it is the better. There is also a number of varieties which are useful for forcing during the early spring months. These are propagated from early pipings, and grown in nursery beds, being taken up in October, and potted in a rich loamy compost, and wintered in a cold pit till required for the forcing house. The varieties named Anne Boleyn, Lady Blanch, Lord Lyons, Mrs Pettifer, and Coccinea are good useful forcing sorts. Of choice florists varieties the number is not very large. The following would form a good selection : Turner s Boiard, Dr Masters, Dr Maclean, Shirley Hibberd, Lord Kirkaldy, Godfrey, and Bertram; Maclean s Annie, Beauty, John Ball, and New Criterion; Marris s Excelsior and Vesta; Kirtlaud s Rev. G. Jeans; Bragg s Nonpareil and Goliath; and Hooper s Beauty of Bath. 66. The Polyanthitsis one of the oldest of the florists flowers, and is no doubt an umbellate form of the primrose, Primula vulgaris. For some time it has been held in low repute, but is now corning into greater favour, and novelties are being slowly produced. Tim florists polyanthus has a golden margin, and is known as the gold laced polyanthus, the properties being very distinctly laid down and rigidly adhered to. The chief of these are a clear unshaded blackish or reddish ground colour, an even margin or lacing of yellow extending round each segment and cutting through its centre down to the ground colour, and a yellow band surrounding the tube of exactly the same hue as the yellow of the lacing. The plants are quite hardy, and grow best in strong loamy soil, toler ably well enriched with dung and leaf-mould; they should be planted about October. Plants for exhibition present a much better appearance if kept during winter in a cold well-aired frame. Of these, Cheshire Favourite, Earl of Lincoln, and Criterion, with black grounds, and Exile, Lancer, and Sunrise, with red grounds, are amongst the best. For the flower borders what are called fancy polyanthuses are adopted. These are best raised annually from seed, the young crop each year blooming in succession. The seed should be sown as soon as ripe, the young plants being allowed to stand through the winter in the seed bed. In April or May they are planted out in a bed of rich garden soil, and they will bloom abundantly the following spring. A few of the better thrum-eyed sorts should be allowed to ripen seed ; the rest may be thrown away. [en- 67. The Pot.ciMlla, as a specialty, is a flower of modern times. tl The double-flowered varieties are especially remarkable for their ornamental qualities. A soil of a good loamy staple, enriched with rotten dung, will grow the potentilla to perfection. They may be in creased, though not very freely, by parting them into as many pieces as there are crowns, the side growths being those which can usually be thus separated. This maybe done in autumn or spring, and the plants will generally bloom the following season. The plants like an open situation, and are well suited for filling a small or moderate- sized bed, as the foliage is of a neat and pleasing character when the plants are not in bloom. The following are good named sorts : Chromatella, Le V&amp;lt;5suve, Louis Van JToutte, Meteor, Pluton, Vulcan, Le Dante, Mars, Nigra, Cameldon, Fe nelon, Etna. li ose. 68. The Double Primrose is closely allied to the polyanthus. There are some very handsome varieties grown, as the crimson, white, yellow, purple, blue, and others. These all succeed under the treatment given to the choicer kinds of polyanthus (par. 66). 69. The Pyrcthrum is quite a modern garden flower, extremely tl;i n. useful as blooming in the early summer months, and remarkable tor its neat habit and the great variety of character and colour which it presents. The type forms are the P. roseum and P. carneum of botanists, hardy perennials, with finely cut leaves, and large flower- heads, having in the one case a ray of (Jeep rose-coloured and in the other of flesh-coloured Hgulatc florets surrounding the centre or disk. They bloom during the months of May and June, as well as later on, and are always most welcome ornaments for the flower borders, and useful for cutting for decorative purposes. 259 The pyrethrum grows best in soil of a loamy texture ; this should be well manured and deeply trenched up before planting, and should be mulched in the spring by a surface dressing of half-decayed manure. The plants may be increased by division, the side shoots being taken off early in autumn with a portion of roots attached. They may be placed either in separate beds or in the mixed flowei border as may be required. In beds they can be supplemented as the season passes on by the intermixture of later-blooming subjects, such as gladioli. Slugs are often destructive to the young shoots. Seeds should be sown in spring in a cold frame, and the young plants should be put out into beds when large enough, and should flower the following May. The following will make a useful selection of sorts: Aurora, Bonamy, 70. The Ranunculus (R. asiaticus), a native of the Levant, is one of Ranun- the older florists flowers, which has sported into numberless varieties, eulus. but was formerly held in much greater esteem than it is at the pre sent time. According to the canons of the florists, the flowers, to be perfect, should be of the form of two-thirds of a ball, the outline forming a perfect circle, with the centre close, the petals smooth- edged, the colour dense, and the marking uniform. The ranunculus requires a strong and moist soil, with a fourth of rotten dung. The soil should be from 18 inches to 2 feet deep, and at about 5 inches below the surface there should be placed a stratum 6 or 8 inches thick of two-year-old rotten cow dung, mixed with earth, the earth above this stratum, where the roots are to be placed, being perfectly free from fresh dung. The tubers are planted in rows 5 or 6 inches apart, and 3 or 4 inches separate in the rows, the turban sorts in October, the more choice varieties in February. They should be so close that the foliage may cover the surface of the bed. The autumn-planted roots must be sheltered from frost by old tan or sifted coal ashes. The plants when in flower should be covered with an awning ; when the leaves wither, the roots are to be taken up, dried, and stored. The ranunculus is readily propagated from seed obtained from semi-double sorts, which are often of themselves very beautiful flowers. It is generally sown in boxes in autumn or spring. The young plants thus raised flower often in the second, and always in the third year. The turban varieties, which are very showy for the borders, are of a few positive colours, as scarlet, yellow, brown, carmine, and white. The florists varieties have been bred from the Persian type, which is more delicate. The following sorts may be taken as the foundation of a collection : Apollo, Eliza, Marquis of Hertford, Helena, Interestor, Sincerity, Garibaldi, Enchanter, Fiaminius, Coronation, Strephon, Melanchthon. 71. The Tulip (Tulipa Gesneriana) is a native of the East, whence Tulip, it w r as introduced into Europe about the middle of the 16th cen tury. About the year 1635 its culture was very engrossing ; and, indeed, the rage for possessing rare sorts had become so great in Holland as to give rise to a strange species of gambling, known to the collectors of literary and scientific anecdotes by the name of Tulipo-mania. At present, though not to be met with in every garden, the finer tulips have yet some ardent cultivators, while cer tain varieties, as the early Due Van Thol and its allies, and the double tulips .of the Tournesol type, are much iised for general garden decoration, and for forcing. The latter, however, spring from other species of the genus. The florists varieties of tulips, which have sprung from Tulipa Gesneriana, ai e arranged in separate classes named bixarres, bybluemeiis, and roses, according to their colour and marking. Tulips are readily raised from seeds, and the seedlings when they first flower are of one colour, that is, they are self-coloured. Judged by the florists rules, they are either good or bad in form, and pure or stained (white or yellow) at the base ; the badly formed and stained flowers are thrown away, while the good and pure are grown on, these being known as &quot;breeder&quot; tulips. The breeder bulbs and their offsets may grow on for years producing only self-coloured flowers, but after a time, which is varied and indefinite, some of the progeny &quot;break,&quot; that is, produce flowers with the variegation which is so much prized. The flower is then said to be rectified &quot; ; it is a bizarre when it has a yellow ground marked with purple or red, a btjbla .mcn when it has a white ground marked with violet or purple, or a rose when it lias a white ground marked with rose colour. One of the most important of the properties of a fine florists tulip is that the cup should form, when expanded, from half to a third of a hollow ball, the divisions of the perianth being six in number, broad at the ends, and smooth at the edges, so that the divisions may scarcely show an indenture. Another is that the ground colour should be clear and distinct, whether white or yellow. The least stain at the base of the flower, technically called the &quot;bottom,&quot; would render a tulip comparatively valueless. AVhat are called feathered flowers are those which have an even close feathering, forming an unbroken edging of colour all round, flamed flowers being those which have a beam or bold mark down the centre, not reaching to the bottom of the cup. Some flowers are both