52 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



four very fine sorts for use till the turn of the year. Prom the later 

 kinds take the true Fluke, WelUm/ton, and SJcernj Blue, and with 

 these stop, unless you know of certain other kinds that suit your 

 soil and climate so well, that you have no need to change your list. 



I omit many fine varieties, because experience tells me they are 

 not now trustworthy. For example, if disease breaks out now, Lap- 

 stone is pretty sure to take it, and Yorh Reijcut has undergone 

 some change, so that of late years it seldom cooks well, the report 

 from the kitchen being that the potatoes tvill melt. Earl)j Shaw is 

 very productive, and a fine table potato, but it has so often been 

 caught by the cold weather at the time of ripening, of late years, that 

 I cannot place it in the first list. Some other favourites I could name 

 that I object to, because they have yellow flesh or are not so generally 

 good as kinds already named. The best time to plant potatoes is 

 autumn: if they are put seven inches deep, the winter frost never 

 injures them, and they grow with vigour as soon as the spring frosts. 

 are past, and give better results than by planting in spring. S. H. 



THE EIGHT USE OF ANNUAL ELOWEES. 



MMENSE quantities of the seeds of annuals are sold 

 every sprinsf, principally to the possessors of suburban 

 gardens. The more showy kinds are prized for the 

 brightness and profusion of their flowers, and the 

 very brief space of time required from the date of 

 sowin"- the seeds to the production of an abundant bloom. Their 

 rapid development is one of their greatest excellencies ; but it is 

 counterbalanced by their rapid decline, which is the chief defect of 

 the majority. But another reason of their extensive culture is their 

 cheapness, and the very few i-equisites necessary to the production 

 of a display of colour. But looking at the capabilities of annuals,, 

 and the modes in which they are generally used, we must charac- 

 terize the treatment of them as in general very unsatisfactory. They 

 are sown too thick, they rarely have a properly-prepared soil, and 

 they are grouped and disposed in ways that are rarely artistic. In 

 matters of taste there must be perfect freedom, and every grower of 

 annuals has a right to dispose of them in any way that he or she 

 pleases ; but we wish to be useful, and as annuals are adapted for 

 much higher uses than they are usually appropriated to, we ofler a 

 few words of advice at a season when almost every amateur gardeneif 

 is busy in selecting and sowiniji; his favourite kinds. 



Glenerally speaking, the greater the variety used in a garden, the 

 less pleasing will be their effect. Half-a-dozen well-selected sorts 

 will produce a richer and more harmonious, as well as more manage- 

 able picture. We have seen on a broad herbaceous border, alternate 

 clumps of Escholtzia crocea and ClarTcia pidchella — the clumps two 

 feet across and four feet apart — and while the bloom lasted, and the 

 flowers were fresh, nothing could be more efiective : the contrasts 

 were rich and satisfactory, and the broad masses of repeated colour 

 gave a distinct character to what was otherwise a mixed collection. 



