Balsam

THE BALSAM, Impatiens balsamin

IN some of the books the plant is catalogued as Balsamina hortensis, but as a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, the amateur gardener need not be troubled about the relative claims of the respective designations. The garden balsam is a tender annual of rapid growth, with an extremely succulent stem, ample full green leafage, and showy flowers of various shades of white, red, rose, and crimson. The generic name Impatiens is explained by the behaviour of the plant when the seeds are ripe, for, on the slightest touch, the seed-pods burst, and the seeds are scattered; and this impatience of the plant may occasion to the cultivator considerable loss. But there is a way out of every difficulty, and the only real difficulty is to know the way. In this case it consists in removing the pods when they are nearly ripe, and placing them on a cloth or newspaper, or in a bell-glass placed mouth upwards, to ripen; then, as they arrive at perfection, the seeds will be shed, and none will be lost, and if the plants were good, the seed will pay for the trouble of saving.

It is a very strange thing, and hardly to be believed, that there is not to be found in any systematic treatise on gardening a really good code of balsam culture. In plain truth, the books are all wrong upon the subject, and as the opportunity is now offered to put them right, we propose to do so. Let it be understood, then, to begin with, that the right way occasions less trouble than the wrong way, and the result is a free development of healthy leafage and splendid flowers. The essence of the proceeding consists in growing the plant generously and somewhat rapidly from the first, and guarding it against any possible check. Suppose we desire to have a fine bed of balsams. We secure the very best seed, and sow it in light rich soil, in pans or boxes, in the month of April. These pans or boxes should be placed on the sunny shelf of a greenhouse, or in a warm corner of a pit, and be kept moderately watered. The plants will soon appear, and as soon as they have about three rough leaves, they should be pricked out, three or four inches apart, in other boxes, in light rich soil; or be potted separately in thumb-pots, and be again nursed in the warm pit or greenhouse, where they should have plenty of air, and never suffer in the least through lack of water. If they grow fast, and the weather is too cold to permit of planting them out, give them a shift into 60 size (three-inch) pots before they become pot-bound, for, as remarked above, there must be no check whatever. When the weather is warm and dull, say about the first or second week in June, plant them out in a sunny position, in rich deep soil. We have put them at two feet apart, and they have met long before the season was over; but, for a general rule, perhaps one foot distance may suffice. Give them plenty of water in dry weather, and that is all you need do to them.