This stately autumn flower has within these last few years been gradually disappearing from gardens. Some six or seven years ago the plants of southern growers were affected with a disease which in a short time entirely destroyed every cultivated variety. This proved to be a fungus, commonly found on the wayside Mallow, though not affecting that plant to an injurious extent. Various remedies were tried to destroy the fungus, but up to the present time no remedy has been discovered capable of either preventing or curing the disease. Gradually creeping northwards, it is doubtful if, at the present moment, there is a collection in the country "clean." Late in the season of 1876 a nurseryman florist was discussing with me the points of what was then a pretty good selection of varieties; and when looking over some newish kinds, some of the dreaded fungoid spots were discovered. In the course of a few weeks the entire collection was blackened and gone. A few plants in the flower-garden escaped to some extent: these have been left in the same positions, and so well did they look last season, that I fully expected to have got a fresh start with clean plants but on inspecting them before winter, with a view to have them lifted and propagated in spring, the enemy was found to be still in possession.

This summer, provided these plants are not seriously affected, I will propagate a number in cold frames. Growth under cool and moist conditions seems the only means of securing good spikes, and comparatively free from disease.

What I would recommend, and what I am doing myself, is to raise a stock from seed, and propagate any good variety which may be produced. When the seed has been gathered from fine flowers, there is a very large percentage of extra good varieties as the product, and a fair collection may be formed from these, provided always there are no Mallows in the neighbourhood, and no disease. Seed may be sown in autumn or in spring. When sown in autumn the Hollyhocks may be treated much in the same way as Cauliflowers, only raising the seedlings under glass instead of in the open border, and duly pricking them out under hand-glasses or in cold frames. I have found damp and slugs make sad havoc with the seedlings during winter. To sow in the beginning of March, and grow quickly, is better for the plants than to keep them hanging on in a torpid condition throughout winter. Boxes used for wintering Geraniums are very suitable for raising the seedlings in. Prepare these with a layer of coal-ashes placed in the bottom for drainage, cover the ashes with rough Mushroom dung, and fill up with a compost of three parts loam to one of old Mushroom dung.

In sowing, allow at least an inch of space for each plant, and merely press the seeds into the soil so as to be nothing more than covered; place a sheet of brown paper over each box, and set them in a frame with a mild heat. When the seedlings appear, gradually increase ventilation until they can be removed to a cold frame, in which they will merely require protection from frost, cold winds, and cold rains. It will depend on the particular locality, soil, or climate, whether the seedlings can be transferred from the boxes to the positions out-of-doors where they are to bloom. If it is not safe to do so, the plants ought to be potted singly in 6-inch pots, draining these like the boxes, and using the same compost, potting only moderately firm. In the course of another fortnight they will require to be finally planted out. A spadeful and a half of half soil, half dung, with a little soot, and some artificial manure, such as Amies' Chemical, added, should be intimately mixed with the natural soil of the border where each plant is to be placed. This provides for the roots a ready medium until they ramify into the border around, and thereby secures a quick, strong growth from the first. The border itself should have been deeply turned up, and manure mixed into the entire depth.

A depth not less than 3 feet should be aimed at; deeper than that, if possible. If the subsoil is unkindly, mix the dung into it without bringing it to the surface at all. A rich, free, deeply-cultivated soil is a simple necessity in the cultivation of the Hollyhock. Stakes are very often placed in the ground before the plants. By doing so, there is no after-harm possible to the roots, as there is when not staked till required. The plants should be protected from surface drought by a mulching shortly after planting. With a properly-prepared border there ought to be no necessity to water the plants during summer. When started into full growth, attention is strictly required to keeping the flower-stalks loosely tied to the stakes with broad slips of matting. Any varieties which may be considered as possessed of qualities which would make their perpetuation desirable, should be cut over about the middle to the end of July, and the flower-stalks cut up into single eyes, leaving a leaf to each bit of stem and eye.

It is hardly necessary to say that the flower-buds should be removed when preparing the "eyes." When ready for insertion, boxes may be filled with a sandy compost, into which the bits of stem are placed; or if a sufficiently large number are obtained, a cold frame may be prepared by placing in it 3 inches of the compost, and inserting the eye-cuttings therein at once. When roots are produced, prepare a frame for their reception during winter by placing a layer of Mushroom dung in it, and over this a layer of pure soil; plant the rooted cuttings firmly in this, and keep the frames open to all weather with the exception of frost or rain. The stools of the plants cut over as above will push out young shoots these will strike if taken off during winter, and placed in a cool house. Hand-glasses put over them, further facilitates the process of rooting. The stools may also be lifted and potted, kept in an intermediate temperature during winter, and the shoots thus made taken off in the beginning of February, and grafted on pieces of root. The pots are to be plunged in a moderately brisk bottom-heat; but coolness is necessary for the grafts. Free watering is also necessary, and shading from direct sun.

Directly growth commences, transfer to cold frames, and shift into larger pots.

R. P. Brotherston.