od seeds of either of the double-flowering kinds, all plants
producing single flowers must be removed as soon as their character is
known. When the single and double-flowering plants are suffered to grow
together, the latter rapidly deteriorate, and often ultimately become
single-flowering.

CHILDING, OR PROLIFEROUS MARIGOLD. _Loud._

This variety produces numerous small flowers from the margin of the
calyx of the large central flowers. It is quite ornamental, but of
little value as an esculent.

* * * * *

MARJORAM.

Origanum.

COMMON MARJORAM.

Origanum vulgare.

A perennial species, with a shrubby, four-sided stem, a foot and a half
high; leaves oval, opposite,--at the union of the leaves with the stalk,
there are produced several smaller leaves, which, in size and form,
resemble those of the Common Sweet Marjoram; the flowers are pale-red,
or flesh-colored, and produced in rounded, terminal spikes; the plants
blossom in July and August, and the seeds ripen in September.

_Propagation and Culture._--It may be grown from seeds, but is generally
propagated by dividing the roots, either in spring or autumn. Set them
in a dry and warm situation, in rows fifteen inches apart, and ten or
twelve inches from plant to plant in the rows.

The seeds may be sown in a seed-bed in April or May, and the seedlings
transplanted to rows as directed for setting the roots; or they may be
sown in drills fifteen inches apart, afterwards thinning out the young
plants to ten inches apart in the drills.

There is a variety with white flowers, and another with variegated
foliage.

_Use._--The young shoots, cut at the time of flowering and dried in the
shade, are used as Sweet Marjoram for seasoning soups and meats. The
whole plant is highly aromatic.

SWEET MARJORAM.

Knotted Marjoram. Origanum majorana.

Sweet Marjoram is a native of Portugal. Though a biennial, it is always
treated as an annual; not being sufficiently hardy to withstand the
winters of the Middle or Northern States in the open ground. The plant
is of low growth, with a branching stem, and oval or rounded leaves. The
flowers, which appear in July and August, are of a purplish color, and
produced in compact clusters, or heads, resembling knots: whence the
term "Knotted Marjoram" of many localities. The seeds are brown,
exceedingly small, and retain their germinative properties three years.

_Sowing and Cultivation._--S