140' THE FLORAL WORLD AM) GARDEN GUIDE. 



pricked over with a small fork, and a little fine earth is scattered 

 amongst them. Gather, for drying, when the flowers are just be- 

 ginning to open. 



Spear Mint {Menilm viridis.) — This invaluable herb loves ^a- 

 damp, rich soil, and should always be propagated by dividing the 

 old plants, or by pieces of the roots. In every garden a plantation, 

 however small, should be made every year, either in spring or 

 autumn, and should be allowed to become strong before being 

 gathered from. I grow a row alwaj's on the same ground with the- 

 peas, to be handy to put into the basket with them ; and to secure 

 early supplies in spring, have a few roots on a warm sloping border, 

 raised above the general level. Por winter use it can be forced 

 without any trouble, and the simplest way is to take up some strong 

 roots that have not been gathered from all the summer, and pot 

 them or put them in shallow pans, or boxes, in rich soil. This 

 should be done at the end of September, and the pots or boxes 

 should be left out of doors fully exposed to the weather. Do not 

 cut down the green shoots ; leave them for the frost to destroy. 

 When the frost has cleared away the tops, put the pans or pots in a 

 frame, and after a week or two transfer one of them to a warm 

 greenhouse or forcing pit, and in three or four weeks the new growth 

 will appear. Continue to introduce other batches as required, 

 preferring always to force slowly than rapidly. If six weeks can be 

 allowed the shoots Avill be fatter, and the flavour richer than if forced 

 in less time. If possible, leave a few pots full of roots in the pit or 

 frame, as these will give shoots a full fortnight or three weeks earlier 

 than mint can be gathered from the open ground. Water may be 

 given freely to mint when forced, and it should be as near the glass 

 as possible. 



Maeigold {Calendula oficinalis). — A showy annual, which 

 should be grown on a dry, sunny bank, as although it will grow 

 anywhere, it is never well flavoured when grown in rich, damp soil. 

 Sow the seed where the plants are to remain ; if in a piece, thin 

 them to a foot apart. The thinnings may be transplanted if the 

 seed-bed is not large enough for the supply of flowers required ; the 

 single dark-coloured flowers are the best for flavour. Gather the 

 flowers when fully expanded, and dry quickly, and store away in 

 paper-bags in a dry place. 



PuESLANE. — Fortulacca oleracea is the green purslane ; P. sativa 

 is the golden purslane. Sow in pans filled with sandy soil, in a 

 warm greenhouse, or on a hot-bed in March, and plant out from those 

 pans in May. Give scarcely any water at any time. Sow in the 

 open ground during April, May, and June ; if in quantity, the drills 

 should be six inches apart, and the plants to be thinned to six inches. 

 A dry, sandy bank is the proper place for them, and the hotter the 

 better, 



EosEMAET (Bosmarmus officinalis). — There are varieties with 

 golden-striped and silver-striped leaves. The soil cannot be too poor 

 and dry for this useful shrub, which, when growing on a wall from 

 self-sown seeds, is longer lived than when growing in a garden 

 border. The hot sandy bank will, at all events, be a good place for 



