THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 219 



But these must not be put in the sun ; they must he kept rather close and shaded, 

 not too wet, but never dry, and as soon as they begin to grow to be fully exposed to 

 the sunshine, the showers, and the breezes. 



Nor less important is it to be looking after herbaceous plants. Take in hand a 

 catalogue of some respectable seedsman, and mark off all the useful subjects respect- 

 ing which you have heard through these pages ; buy the seeds and sow at once. 

 All these things may be raised with the greatest ease now, for the simple reason 

 that the earth is a hotbed, and the still better reason, that this is the proper time to 

 sow them. Within a short time of this I shall have thousands of seedling plants of 

 Alyssum saxatile by the method I told you of a few weeks ago. I shall have also 

 seedling phloxes, pentstemons, hollyhocks, sweet Williams, campanulas, colum- 

 bines, delphiniums, iberis, walls, silenes, linums, potentillas, antirrhinum, poly- 

 anthus, and fifty other good things, for blooming next season, and I shall get them 

 by sowing on beds of fine earth, and shading the beds with a few reed hurdles, and 

 they will pretty well take care of themselves after the seed is sown. Some, of 

 course, will be potted in September to keep through winter in frames ; some will be 

 planted in September in the places where they are to bloom ; and some will remain 

 in the seed-beds till spring. It is at this season that nature sows the seeds of all 

 such things; the seeds ripen in the pods, fall to the ground, and, after the next 

 shower, the ground is covered with the little plants. How much better that we 

 should follow the instruction offered us by nature, instead of fussing and fuming to 

 raise such things by seed sown in spring, when there is so much work of other kinds 

 that can only be done in spring ; and for this particular kind of work spring is the 

 ■worst time in the whole year. 



Lastly, to avoid making too long a story, this is the right moment to look over 

 your stock of flowering plants of all kinds ; see that they are correctly labdled, and 

 write new labels if need be. Among your geraniums, verbenas, petunias, fuchsias, 

 etc., etc., you will find some subjects not good enough to propagate. Mark off all 

 that are worthless, or that are really superseded by better things, so that v/hen the 

 bloom is over they may be destroyed or given away. In the meantime secure the 

 best of the new varieties in the classes you have a fancy for, so as to enjoy to the full 

 aU the advantages of the advances made in floriculture. 



Tom Tiddler. 



HORTICULTURAL AFFAIRS. 



[HERE have been so many of the principal horticultural exhibitions 

 held during the past month, that we are unable to do anything beyond 

 giving them a passing notice, for to do them all full justice would 

 occupy the whole of the pages in this month's number, and we do not 

 suppose that many of our readers are desirous of seeing that done, and 

 it would in some cases be a repetition, for in several instances we have seen the 

 same plants shown at all the exhibitions. 



National Hoktictjltural Exhibition, Manchester.— As we observed in our 

 June number, this was a decided success. The orchids, from Dr. Ainsworth, Mr. 

 Stevenson, and Mr. Jones, in the amateur classes, and from Mr. B. S. Williams, 

 HoUoway, and Mr. Dixon, Beverley, were beyond praise. The stove and green- 

 house plants, from Mr. Baines, gardener to H. L. Micholls, Esq., Bowdon ; Messrs. 

 Cole and Son, Withington ; Mr. T. Kendal, and several others, were such as can 

 only bs seen in the neighbourhood. Amongst other plants, Mr. Baines had fine 

 examples of two of the North American pitcher-plants, namely, Sarracenia flava, 

 ■with pitch3rs three feet high, and a pan of S. purpurea a yard across, a perfect 

 sheet of pitchers, both in the highest state of health. We are bound to pass over 

 a host of palms and other grand examples of ornamental-foliaged plants, but we 

 must find room to notice the beautiful Cocos Weddeliana (or Leopoldiana pulchra) y 

 for it is the handsomest palm in cultivation, and one of the very best for small 

 houses. To speak the sober truth, there is not another to equal it where space is 

 limited. With this we pass on to the grand azaleas from Mr. C. Turner, Slough, 

 and MesBiB. Lane and Son, Great Berkhampstead, and Sir James Watts, all of 



