TEN-WEEK STOCKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 229, 27 September 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

TEN-WEEK STOCKS.

| To describe these popular favourites •would be a waste of time, for everybody, is so well acquainted with. them. * It is had to conceive a garden without some well-grown sitocks, yet there are gardens where one never sees a stock, which can be considered' characteristic. The stock is as accommodating as it is sweet, and if treated with any attention at all it will give a good return. The stocks we Have to-day are the results of a vast amount of time and care which has been bestowed upon their improvement. Few , plants can equal stocks for garden purposes, and certainly no annual can equal them for massing or for bold effects in the flower border. To their brilliancy of colouring must be added stateliness, good habit, double and lasting flowers. Now is a good time to sow tep-week stocks to get a good spring show. When buying stock seed always buy the best. The percentage of double-flowering plants depends on the quality of the seed, and the best quality seeds always demand a good price. There is no such thing as a cheap good stock seed. When sowing the seed only just cover it, and if out° side shade it from the bright, hot sun until germinated. As- soon as the seed has germinated and the seed leaves developed, the seedlings should be picked out into some good 6andy, well-manured soil. When large enough they must be planted out into" their permanent quarters. The plants should be allowed loin j.rom plant to plant. The ground' for stocks should be as rich as possible, the richer the soil the finer the spikes of bloom. The worst enemy to stocks is damping in their seedling stage, and for this reason pricking out is recommended as soon as the seed leaves are rle"\ eloped, otherwise once damping starts at travels with such rapidity that in a few hours, if the atmosphere is moist, a whole crop can be lost. Seme people recommend sulphur or lime, dusted on the seedlings., to*prevent damping spreading, but the best method is to prick out! the seedlings to prevent the damping getting a start.