20G 



THE FLOEAL WORLD AND aAEDEN GUIDE. 



Therefore there is notlung gained by ! and perennial candytuft, all in nursery, 

 hurry ; let them grow as slowly as they ready to be moved to their places for 

 will, provided they have good feeding and blooming ; and with reserve ground, 

 protection from frost, for potted bulbs : trenched and manured, to ^receive them 

 suffer sooner than tliose planted in the ; back again for the completion of their 

 open ground. But "J. D." wants autumn- : growth ? We have only considered the 

 sown annuals, and the occupation of the | work involved in the management of one 

 bed during winter by the evergreens need ' bed, because the routine is the same, whe- 

 not prove an obstacle. There are two , thcr we have to keep up a succession in 

 ways of accomplishing it. Sow the an- one or fifty ; and if the task is one of 

 nuals at onco on a raised bed made of, extent, the despised, because common, 

 turf sods, grass side downwards, beaten 1 spring-flowering perennials mast all come 

 firm, and watered with boiling water ; j into the system, and be grown in hun- 

 then sow on it, in lines, the annuals of j dreds instead of solitary patches here and 

 which the bed is to consist. The best ! there in the borders. All these things 



effect will result from the employment of 

 a few striking colours. The best for 

 small beds are Nomopbila, Scliizanthus, 

 Nolana, and Clarkia. Tiie two candy- 

 tufts, white and purple, make a superb 

 bed, and last in their prime about four 

 weeks, and no longer. Purple for the 

 centre and white outside, nothing can 

 beat it. The moment it begins to show 

 seeds, root it out and plant, afresh. It 

 will be a simple affair enough to take up 

 these turves in strips, cut them into 

 patches, and plant without loosening a 

 particle of enrth from any of the plants. 

 Of course the longest of their roots v.ill be 



come far better from cuttings than from 

 seed ; they may be struck by hundreds on 

 a shady border, from tlie merest mites of 

 the new growth, and if grown in muichy 

 stTiff, are sui'e to bloom when their season 

 comes. Dielytra moves as well as any 

 hardy plant we have, and what could be 

 better for the centre of a spring bed, or 

 for a bed alone, or with an edging of the 

 perennial candytuft, for both bloom to- 

 gether? Tlie early aconites, primroses, 

 double yellow pansics, common wliite and 

 yellow alyssum, wallflovrcrs, and a few of 

 the showiest of the saxifrages, only need 

 to be worked into a system, and grown 



cut through in taking up the sods, but j in sufficient numbers to make a bedding 

 that will be the better for them. A good j scheme for the spring equal in effect to 

 soaking from the water-can, or, better still, that about wliich we are all so much con- 

 a week's rain, would give them a iresh cerned during summer and autumn. Work 

 start, and bring them into bloom early j into the system some of the early bloom- 

 enough to make the garden gay at the | ing shrubs, such as Daphnes, Eibes, 

 very commencement of the season, and double almonds, and that best of them all, 



allow of the bedders having a shift out of 

 their starvation pots, to get thoroughly 

 strong before the annuals were over. A 

 safer method is to sow in shallow pans, 

 and winter the seedlings in a cold frame, 

 keeping them as much exposed as possible 

 to harden them. They should have only 

 just as much water as will keep them 

 alive, and may be turned out into their 

 blooming quarters without the least check 

 to their growth. 



But while this sort of work goes on, 



Azalea araiBua, which has the foliage of a 

 myrtle, but more dense and compact, and 

 comes out in a sheet of small blossom j of 

 the colour of unique geranium. Plenty of 

 plants is of more consequence than va- 

 riety, and the difficulties all resolve them- 

 selves into space to store them, when re- 

 moved from the scene of display, and the 

 labour of preserving, cultivating, and in- 

 creasing tiicm. Without an ample re- 

 serve ground, the thing must have narrow 

 limits, and once entered on, must be pur- 



let us not ibrget what we may consider sued liberally, and on the best nursery 



the legitimate plants for such work. If 

 we did justice to a few of our old Eng- 

 lish friends, we should have little need for 

 autumn-sown armuals, except for the bor- 

 ders. AVhere is the amateur who can at 

 this moment point us to his fifty or sixty 

 yards of pui'ple aubrietia, yellow alyssum, 



principles. i?lenty of water, a good store 

 of pots of all sizes, good turfy peat, and a 

 well-kept compost-yard, are essential ele- 

 ments, and the rest depeuds on taste to 

 use judiciously the many elements that 

 have thus been brought together. 



