108 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



off when it does not actually rain in the day, and tilting it with the 

 thickest wedge every night. Such treatment for a week will harden 

 the plants, and then they may be planted out, about which I shall 

 have something to say next month. 



Before I name the kinds of seeds, it may be well to state that 

 many of them would flower if sown in the open ground. My object 

 in recommending frame culture for them is, that they may be in 

 flower at least a month earlier, than those sown out of doors. For 

 convenience I shall place them alphabetically, whether they are 

 annuals or perennials, as I shall only name such perennials as will 

 flower the first year. 



Calliopsis (or Coreopsis) Drummondii. — This is the dwarfest of 

 all the Coreopsis, and, to my mind, the best. It is a good subject 

 for an oval or round bed, and makes a capital mixture in the borders. 

 It grows about a foot high. It must be sown thinly in the frame. 



Diantlius Heddewigii and its varieties are charming subjects, if 

 grown on in the frame, thinly in the drills, until the end of May. 

 They make a first-rate bed, or may have conspicuous places in the 

 borders. 



Convolvulus major is rather loose in growth perhaps, but it 

 furnishes a colour that we cannot get in other subjects from seed. 



Gallardia picta will make a nice autumn bed if nursed on in the 

 frame until quite the latest. 



Helichrysums are not half enough known, yet they are most easy 

 to grow and useful to cut from. I grow mine in good soil in any 

 open spot, and sow about the beginning of May. Last year they 

 furnished a supply of cut flowers up to the first week in December. 

 To flower early they require frame treatment, and then they will 

 flower for a space of five or six months if the soil is good, and as 

 " everlastings " they offer a capital variety of colours. They are too 

 tall for beds, but are admirably adapted lor the back rows of a mixed 

 border. 



Malope grandiflora has large, brilliant, dark-red flowers, and 

 keeps up a continual show. It grows two to three feet high, and 

 should be planted singly in the borders. 



Phlox Drummondii is a chaste and beautiful bedding plant. The 

 end of May will be soon enough to plant it out. 



Saponaria Calabrica is perhaps the best bedder amongst all the 

 list of hardy annuals. It flowers earlier by being sown under glass. 

 A bed of it is nothing if viewed from a distance, but charming when 

 seen immediately under the eye. 



Schizanthus pinnatus and pinnatus Priesti may be grown this 

 way, and are good for mixed borders. 



Tagetes signata pumila is the best of all substitutes for calceo- 

 larias, as it makes a good yellow bedding plant. So, indeed, do all 

 the varieties of marigolds, for we have few amongst the ordinary 

 run of bedding plants that will compete, for richness of marking, with 

 the French and African varieties, and they are either good for beds 

 or borders. Eemember, they are very susceptible of cold when 

 young. 



Zinnia elegans, both double and single, treated as above advised, 



