«4€ FLORA HlSTOrdCA. 



rate hotbed. AYhen the plants are come up they 

 should have plenty of air admitted as often as the 

 ■weather is mild, and when they are about two 

 inches in height they may be transplanted into a 

 second very moderate hotbed ; or each plant be 

 put into a small pot filled with light rich earth, and 

 plunged into a hotbed, from whence they may be 

 taken out into the borders with more security than 

 tliose that are planted in the bed. 



As soon as the plants have taken root in the 

 second hotbed, they should be gradually inured 

 to the open air, which will prepare them for the 

 open garden about the beginning of June. The 

 seeds may be sown in a warm open border in 

 April, which will give plants for the autumn flow- 

 ering. 



From the size of these plants, being branchy, 

 and from three to five feet in height, they are 

 better calculated for the foreground of the shrub- 

 bery than for the smaller borders of the par- 

 terre. They retain their beauty for a great length 

 of time, being frequently covered with blossoms 

 from the beginning of July to the end of October, 

 and the flowers are so numerous that the plants 

 have a most cheerful appearance, particularly to- 

 wards the evening, as they seldom expand in warm 

 weather before four o'clock in the afternoon, on 

 which account it is sometimes called Four o'Clock 



