Seedlings are easily raised by those who can exercise patience; and afterwards the simplest cool culture will suffice to grow handsome specimens.  But we do not know any seed—­not even the Auricula—­which takes more time and is so capricious in germinating.  In all cases where seed is sown in fairly rich soil, which has to be kept constantly moist and undisturbed for a long period, there is a tendency to sourness, especially on the surface.  Free drainage will do something towards preventing this.  Another aid in the same direction is to cover the seed with a layer of sand, and the sand with a thin coating of ordinary potting soil.  When the surface becomes covered with moss, the coating of soil can be gently removed down to the sand, and be replaced with fresh earth, without detriment to the seeds.

Sow at any time of the year, in 48-sized pots filled with rather firm soil; and as the seedlings straggle through and show two pairs of leaves, pot them off singly, and give the shelter of a close pit or frame until they become established.  They must not be allowed to suffer for lack of water, but there is no necessity to give them manure water at any stage of growth.  An occasional re-potting is the only other attention they will require until they reach the final size, and the pots need not then be large.

==Hollyhock==

==Althaea rosea.  Hardy perennial==

Generations of unnatural treatment had so debilitated the Hollyhock that disease threatened to banish it from our gardens.  Just at the critical time it was discovered that the plant could be grown and satisfactorily flowered from seed.  Florists at once turned their attention to the production of seed worth growing, and with marked success.  The best strains may now be relied on to produce a large proportion of perfectly formed double flowers, imposing in size, colour, and substance.  The seedlings also possess a constitution capable of withstanding the deadly =Puccinia malvacearum=, and there is no longer a danger that this stately plant will become merely one of the pleasures of memory.

In growing the Hollyhock it is necessary to remember that a large amount of vegetable tissue has to be produced within a brief period, so that the treatment throughout its career should be exceptionally liberal.  Some gardeners are successful in flowering Hollyhocks as annuals.  Where this course is adopted it is usual to sow in January in well-drained pots or seed-pans filled with rich soil freely mixed with sand, covering the seed with a slight dusting of fine earth.  A temperature of 65 deg. or 70 deg. is necessary, and in about a fortnight the plants should attain a height of one inch, when they will be ready for pricking off round the edges of 4-1/2-inch pots, filled with a good porous compost.  Put the seedlings in so that the first leaves just touch the surface.  At the beginning of March transfer singly to thumb pots, and immediately the roots take hold remove to pits or frames, where they can be exposed to genial showers and be gradually hardened.  Defer the planting out until the weather is quite warm and settled.