View source for Stocks

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| features =     <!--- flowers, fragrance, fruit, naturalizes, invasive -->
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Stocks. Popular florists' flowers, single and double, white, blush, pink, purple, yellowish, valuable for cut-flowers (Fig. 3698). They are divided into two groups, summer and winter stocks. The former are annuals and therefore bloom the first summer; the latter are biennials and bloom the second year, or, if sown very early, late in the fall or the winter of the first year. Fall or intermediate stocks are between these two groups; they bloom profusely in the autumn. See Matthiola; also Cheiranthus for the closely related wallflower (also Wallflower). Virginian stock is a very different plant and is not a regular florists' flower; it is grown for its small fragrant single fls.; see Malcomia.

Florists now frequently grow stocks in benches instead of carrying them through as potted plants. They are in considerable demand for Memorial Day. After the early bedding plants are removed to the frames, the benches are filled with soil and the plants that have been growing in pots since the seed was sown in December are then planted in them. Stocks may also follow chrysanthemums, the seed having been sown in August.

The seed of the summer stocks, or, as they are commonly called, "ten-weeks' stocks," is sown from the end of February until April, mostly in a lukewarm hotbed, which must be sunny and well aired. Good clean garden soil, well mixed with sand and free of manure, is proper soil in which to sow the seed. The seed will germinate in six to ten days, the light-seeded sorts germinating more quickly than the dark-seeded kinds. Air must be admitted as soon as the seeds have sprouted, very much in warm weather and less when the weather is raw, until finally the sash may be entirely removed during the day. If the seedlings need water it should be given in the morning, so that they are dry at night. If the sun is hot the seedlings must be shaded. If the seed is to be raised from pot-grown plants a good well-manured, sandy garden soil should be used which contains an admixture of well-rotted sod or the soil taken from river-bottoms. The pots are about 6 inches high, with a diameter of 7 inches. When they show their fourth leaf the seedlings are planted firmly into these pots with a dibber, pots being well filled with the above soil; care should be taken that the roots are inserted vertically. From six to eight plants are put into such a pot. These pots are then placed on sunny stages, usually protected by tilt-roofs. The development of the plants depends now principally on careful watering, which is done mostly with watering-pots and at the beginning with a fine spray attached to the spout of the pot. After a crust has formed on the top of the soil, the spray is discontinued and the pots are watered with the pipe of the can. This watering is done at night during warm weather and in the morning when the weather is cold. Very little watering is necessary in continuously cloudy or rainy weather. The watering of the stocks is the most particular and important part in the cultivation in pots, for if due care is not exercised a white maggot will make its appearance while the plants are in bud and destroy the roots. The common flea-beetle is another of the enemies of stocks; this often appears in large numbers and eats the leaves of the young plants. Frequent syringing with water is the only remedy found so far against these pests when they infest stocks.—After the plants have been in bloom for some time the double-flowering specimens are cut out and the watering is continued carefully until the seed-pods which form in the single plants show indications of ripening, which is in October. The plants are then pulled and tied in bundles, which are hung up in dry sheds until the middle or the latter part of November and December, in which time the seed fully matures in the pods. Now comes the most important part of seed-saving of stocks. The bundles of plants are taken down, the roots and part of the stems cut off, and the stalks are taken in hand by expert gardeners who sort them for common seed and also for the seed-stock. The pods indicate by their shape, size, and form whether the seeds contained therein will produce a high percentage of double flowers the following year, and the selection is made with care. The seed that goes on the market can be vastly improved by the removal of "wild" pods, which contain seeds that produce nothing but single flowers. The seeds are removed by hand from the pods, mostly by women and children.
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==Cultivation==
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===Propagation===
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===Pests and diseases===
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==Species==
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==Gallery==
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==References==
*[[Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture]], by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
<!--- xxxxx  *Flora: The Gardener's Bible, by Sean Hogan. Global Book Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0881925381  -->
<!--- xxxxx  *American Horticultural Society: A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, by Christopher Brickell, Judith D. Zuk. 1996. ISBN 0789419432  -->
<!--- xxxxx  *Sunset National Garden Book. Sunset Books, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0376038608  -->

==External links==
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