DOUBLE STOCKS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 255, 24 July 1936, Page 18

DOUBLE STOCKS

No Royal Road to Success

Almost every man and woman interested in growing good quality stocks has tried time and again to think out a plan for raising good quality, doubleflowering plants at home, writes “Redgum” in the “Sydney Morning Herald.” Thinning out the single plants to improve the chances of a setting of better quality seed has been tried so often that it is seldom done to-day. Picking out the sturdy, stubby seedlings, which at one time were thought to be the most desirable and dependable of the young fry, never gave the owners the pleasures of success they were seeking. Latterly, we have just let the plants take their own course. The royal road to success seemed as far off as ever.

Hope returns to our hearts with an old-day story about paying more attention to the fruitful single-flowered stocks than to the sterile double forms. I gathered this recommendation from an bld “Florists’ Cabinet,” published in 1833. It looks quite a profitable story. Watch the singles for flowers that carry more than four petals. Any that hold five or six petals are supposed to be more worth saving than those with less strings to their bows. Mark all such stems with a piece of coloured wool and discard the less important flowers, or use them for decorative work. This old-day plan is certainly worth trying out LUCULIA Light Trimming Necessary Many admirers of the charming and fragrant Chinese shrub, Luculia Gratissima, are afraid to trim or prune their treasures after they have finished their mid-winter flowering. There is no need for anxiety in this regard. The luculia is hardy enough to take a light trimming that will keep it nicely bunched and shapely. Hard cutting, such as is done for hydrangeas, probably would injure a Plant by giving it rather much of a shock at a time of the year when a rest would be more to its liking.