THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



83 



The seedlings removed may, if thought I 

 desirable, be replanted, and will generally 

 bloom a week or two after the others. As 

 a general rule, tap-rooted annuals, such as 

 the larkspurs, and most of those of the 

 P°PPy tribe, will not bear transplanting. 

 Occasionalh', they will succeed if removed 

 very young ; but they are almost always 

 less vigorous than such as arc not dis- 

 turbed, and rarely worth the trouble be- 

 stowed. Transplanting should, if possible, 

 be performed in cloudy weather, or to- 

 wards evening ; and, unless the soil is wet, 

 the seedlings should be slightly watered, 

 to settle the soil about the fibres, shading 

 them for two or three days subsequently, 

 should the weather be sunny. Such plants 

 as have been sown in a reserve bed may be 

 transferred to the borders in clumps with- 

 out difficulty, if the precaution be taken of 

 previously moistening the soil, when it is 

 of a loose, dry character. With a little 

 skill, even masses in bloom, or plants of 

 some size, may be removed uninjured. The 

 blooming season of most annuals, in com- 

 mon with other plants, may generally be 

 much prolonged by removing the withered 

 flowers ; for it is well known that if 

 allowed to ripen their capsules, the ten- 

 dency to a succession of bloom is 

 checked, and the subsequent blossoms are 

 smaller. 



SECTION II. — HALF-HARDY ANNUALS. 



The term "half-hardy," as we have al- 

 ready explained, is applied to those animals 

 which, though they will flower freely in 

 the open ground, require artificial heat to 

 assist germination, and protection from 

 atmospheric changes during the earliest 

 stages of growth. There are but few 

 gardens, however humble, which do not 

 offer some convenience for raising the more 

 tender annuals, the only really indispen- 

 sable requisites being a one or two-light 

 box, and a supply of fermenting material ; 

 and for many seeds, even these conditions 

 may be still further simplified. The ordi- 

 nary hot-bed of stable manure offers the 

 simplest means of obtaining a gentle bot- 

 tom-heat sufficient for most seeds, though, 

 where other more perfect sources are avail- 

 able, they will of course be employed. Its 

 construction is a simple matter enough, 

 and is well understood by most persons 

 possessing a garden. 



In rare cases, the seeds are sown on the 

 layer of soil which covers the hot-beds ; 

 but the most usual, and by far the best, 

 plan is, to sow them in pots or pans. The 

 latter differ only in being much shallower 



than pots, and they require, therefore, less 

 soil to fill them. The pots should be quite 

 dry when used, and — to insure a thorough 

 drainage, which, essential for all plants, is 

 doubly so for seedlings — must be filled at 

 least one-third of their depth with broken 

 crocks, the largest fragments being placed 

 at the bottom and the smaller at the top. 

 The remaining space should then be filled 

 with soil (which at the time of using may 

 be somewhat moist, but never wet) to 

 within a half to three-quarters of an inch 

 of the rim, when the pot should be gently 

 struck to settle the mass, and, if neces- 

 sary, additional soil added. In the case 

 of very small seeds, such as those of clin- 

 touia, lobelia, or calceolaria, the covering 

 of soil should be very thin ; and, as seeds 

 so minute are liable to be carried down 

 into the soil unless very carefully watered, 

 it is even advisable to moisten the 

 flattened surface of soil in the pot just 

 before sowing the seeds, instead of after- 

 wards. 



Towards the middle or end of May, 

 many of the seedlings will be ready for 

 transferring to the borders or beds they 

 are intended to decorate ; but, previous 

 to this exposure, it will be necessary to 

 prepare them for the change, by admitting 

 air to the frame both day and night ; or, 

 what is better, by placing them in a sepa- 

 rate frame, in which they may be gradually 

 "hardened off," at first by keeping the 

 lights off during the day only, and 

 then, after an interval of five or six days, 

 at night also, proceeding carefully while 

 the nights are cold. 



SECTION III. — TENDER OK GREENHOUSE 

 ANNUALS. 



The Greenhouse or Tender An- 

 nuals, as they are usually termed, includ- 

 ing the globe amaranth, cockscomb, egg 

 plant, browallias, portulacas, and a few 

 others, succeed better with bottom-heat, 

 though the seeds will vegetate in a close 

 frame. In either case, the plants, after 

 pricking out, should remain in the frame 

 until the end of June. — Sutton's Spring 

 Catalogue and Amateur's Guide for 

 1860. 



Exhibition of Camellias. — We must 

 defer till next month our report on the 

 exhibition of Camellias at the nursery of 

 Messrs. Milne and Co., Wandsworth Road. 

 The exhibition was in every sense satisfac- 

 tory, and included a large number of new 

 continental seedlings flowered for the first 

 time this season in England. 



