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The Single Stock

Mathiola annua GILLYFLOWERS are of several kinds, and the stock is one of the number. A gillyflower may be a stock, or a wallflower, or a clove, or a carnation. The word is often regarded as a modification of July flower, or of the French giroflee; but it has deeper and older roots, being a corruption of the Indian caryophyllou,* the odour of which resembles that of the clovepink. The illustrative passages cited by Dr. Richardson indicate the probability of its being a vagrant sort of word; for in Douglas's translation of Virgil it is spelt jereflouris; in Holland's "Plinie," gillofre; in Spenser's "Shepherd's Calender," gilliflower; and in Burrow, gillyflower. In Parkinson's "Paradisus" we find descriptions of "gillowflowers" of many kinds, the chief being carnations, dame's violets, and stocks. The second in this list is the purple rocket (Hesperis), which is closely allied to the stock. There is a fine subject for a learned discourse in the word gillyflower, but the pith of it is now before you; all that really remains is amplification. And amid a thousand passages that might be quoted by one who should have no better employ than to hunt for them, the mention of the flower by Shakespeare in the "Winter's Tale" would scarcely be equalled for interest:- "Perdita. Sir, the year growing ancient,-- Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth Of trembling winter,--the fairest flowers o' the season Are our carnations, and streak'd gillyflowers, Which some call nature's bastards: of that kind Our rustic garden's barren; and I care not To get slips of them. "Polixenes. Wherefore, gentle maiden, Do you neglect them? "Per. For I have heard it said, There is an art, which, in their piedness, shares With great creating nature. "Pol. Say, there be; Yet nature is made better by no mean, But nature makes that mean: so, over that art, Which, you say, adds to nature, is an art That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry A gentler scion to the wildest stock; And make conceive a bark of baser kind By bud of nobler race: this is an art Which does mend nature,--change it rather; but The art itself is nature. "Per. So it is. "Pol. Then make your garden rich in gillyflowers, And do not call them bastards. "Per. I'll not put The dibble in earth to set one slip of them: No more than, were I painted, I would wish This youth should say, 'twere well."

In the old copies it is spelt gillyvors, which is, no doubt, a mere contraction of gillyflowers; and it is equally beyond a doubt that the gillyflowers Perdita cared not for were the streaked stocks figured by Parkinson at 259 of the "Paradisus," and labelled "Single stript Stock Gilloflowers."

The curious reader may be disposed to inquire why these flowers were called stock-gillyflowers? for from that old compound we derive the modern designation "stock." The reply is of interest, as tending the more certainly to define the range of the term "gillyflower," and so make an end of controversy. They were called stock-gillyflowers to distinguish them from others that were not stocky; for the stock has a distinct stem, and is tree-like in growth, some of the kinds forming bushes two to three feet high, whereas the "clove gillyflowers" are grass-like rather than tree-like in their growth, and these last were the gillyflowers, or gillyvors, par excellence. Single stocks are not thought much of by the florists, but when seen in large clumps they are as cheerful as any flowers in the garden, and their spicy odour is very refreshing. The annual or ten-week stocks should be treated as half-hardy to insure a good bloom, and the following is as good a code of cultivation as we can devise for them.

Sow the seed in pans filled with light rich soil in March and April. Keep the pans under glass until the plants are stout and strong, and then plant them out in a frame. If you cannot do this, wait until the weather becomes warm and settled, and put the pans out of doors, giving them a little protection for the first two or three nights. If the seedlings are put into the frame you will be able to transplant them to the beds with nice tufts of roots; if you cannot bring them on in this careful way, you must transplant into the beds from the seed-pans, but for this you must wait for summery weather. Annual stocks will flower fairly well in any garden soil, but if a rich and long-lasting bloom is desired a bed of rich soil should be prepared, for of all the flowers in the garden, stocks require and deserve good cultivation, which includes providing them with a rich soil and giving them plenty of water during dry, hot weather.

For early flowering in pots the seed should be sown in August, and as soon as the plants are large enough to handle they should be planted out on a bed of light but good soil in a brick-pit, or be pricked out into pans and wintered in the greenhouse. Soon after the turn of the year they should be potted singly in five-inch pots in rich soil, and have a warm berth to bring them on for flowering. A more simple and by no means despicable procedure would be to pot them from the seed-pans in autumn, putting three plants in a five-inch pot.

The East Lothian Stock is a great favourite in Scotland. The seed is sown on a mild hotbed in February, and the plants are nursed with care, and put out in rich beds in the month of May.