THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 211 



before the 2oth of October, we carefully take it up, give it a good- 

 sized pot, and place ib in a warm greenhouse and shut it up, 

 to recover from the lifting, and that in due time we transfer it to 

 the warmest part of the conservatory. Let it be growing on, in fact, 

 the whole year round, and take care to strike a few cuttings in April 

 every year, for planting out. Thus it may be made to do double 

 duty and f];ive double pleasure. 



The Editor has handed to me a letter from a correspondent, who 

 seems in great difficulty " where to obtain the plants recommended 

 by Mr. Prosper." I am told it is the rule to avoid, as far as pos- 

 sible, mention of the names of traders. The Editor remarks to me, 

 ** This is a constant difficulty, for we can scarcely mention a plant, 

 even the most common, but some correspondent will aver that * it 

 cannot be obtained in the trade,' though at every good nursery 

 there may be thousands of it." Well, I can say I have not recom- 

 mended a single plant that cannot be easily obtained, but I know 

 nothing of the capabilities of the little nurseries where Tom Thumb G-e- 

 ranium and Crystal Palace Tropseolum appear to be the only two plants 

 they have ever heard of. Only a few months since, I looked over the 

 stock at Messrs. E. Gr. Henderson and Sons, Wellington Eoad, St. 

 John's Wood, and saw a considerable number of the plants I have 

 been recommending during the past year. Yet that is not the only 

 nursery where such plants are kept. I dare say Messrs. Yeitch and 

 Son, of Chelsea, have as varied an assortment. I am pretty sure 

 that Messrs. Backhouse and Son, of York, have ; and I could per- 

 haps find a dozen more. But that is not my business. If I know 

 of a good thing, my duty is to give it a place in my category, and 

 leave the laws of supply and demand to work out all the rest. 



SEEDS TO BE SOWJs' IN THE MO^^^TH OE JULY. 



N the early months of the year seedsmen are so overdone with work that 

 customers are often kept waiting for weeks for the supply of goods 

 ordered, and the customers themselves are so worried with earthwork, 

 planting, and the rest of the activities of the spring, that many of the 

 seeds purchased then are wasted through heing carelessly sown, neg- 

 lected after they come up, or because that is just the worst time in t'ne whole year in 

 which to commit them to the ground. Now is the time for the lover of a garden to 

 be busy in sowing seeds. Whatever is sown now will come up if there is vitality in 

 it, and whatever comes up will make a good grov/th, and all biennial and perennial 

 plants will bloom well next season. The three weeks from the 25th of July to the 

 15tli of August are the best in the whole of the year for sowing seeds and striking 

 cuttings. "We shall first remark in a general way that the seed-bed should be in a 

 clean and moderately fine state, and at this time of year it will be better if a shady 

 position can be chosen for it, as in the event of hot dry weather just as the seeds 

 are pushing through, many of the little plants may perish. Seeds are killed in 

 various ways. AVlien sprinkled haphazard on hard rough soil, many sink too deep 

 to germinate, otiiers are too much exposed, and so get burnt up. When drenched 

 with water from a watering-pot, many get washed away, and the seedling plants 

 are washed out of the soil, and the next ray of sunshine destroys them, and of 



