i879-] PREPARING FOR THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 67 



cessity to secure plants of an effective size throughout the summer. 

 The most graceful and generally useful of those foliage plants which 

 may be annually raised from seed is Acacia lophantha, a species of 

 that extensive genus sometimes used for decorative purposes in- 

 doors. It grows very rapidly planted out in good soil, and is 

 hardy enough to stand autumn frosts. This, as also the other plants 

 noted below, is raised in boxes, freely drained, as the young seed- 

 lings are not potted off until they have made a good start, the com- 

 post being open and rich. The seeds are steeped for several hours in 

 hot water — long enough to soften the outer casing — and at the proper 

 stage pressed thinly into the soil, just sufficiently deep to have the 

 seed covered. The soil is kept moist; and further, to keep the surface 

 in an equable condition in that respect, the boxes are covered with 

 brown paper or moss until the seeds have germinated. A tempera- 

 ture of 60° is a very suitable one for starting the seeds in. When a 

 few inches high, the seedlings are potted singly into 5-inch pots, and 

 kept gently growing, and in due time, as the season advances, 

 hardened off, and planted out with other stuff about the end of May. 

 Cannas do well under the same treatment j but these have not proved 

 satisfactory here, and are not now grown. Wigandia caracasana, 

 when well grown, makes a handsome foliage plant. The seeds are 

 very small. After the seedlings are up, they require growing on 

 quickly to secure strong plants for the bedding-out season. Solanum 

 W^arscewiczii requires" sowing just now too, though it is not necessary 

 to push the young plants on so rapidly as the above. Ricinus (the 

 best of which for Northern latitudes is Africanus), Diacanthas, D. 

 chamrepeuce (being a very necessary plant), and variegated Maize, are 

 soon enough sown eight weeks later. If a stock of the beautiful 

 Verbena venosa is wanted from seed, it should be sown immediately 

 in order to have good-sized plants. The seeds ought to be steeped in 

 water before sowing, and a not over-high temperature indulged in. 



There is no time better than the present month for getting hardy 

 subjects into their respective places. There is generally a spell of 

 fine weather in February, and advantage ought to be taken of it for 

 the above purpose. The plants, either from cuttings or division, or 

 cuttings inserted to strike where they are to remain, get established 

 sufficiently before the drying winds of March come, and are also 

 safe from the interested attentions of birds intent on setting up estab- 

 lishments for themselves later on in the season. Cerastium tomento- 

 sum, the dark-leaved Ajuga reptans, and Stellaria graminea aurea, are 

 a trio of edging or carpeting plants of the first order. The first-named 

 is propagated by division or cuttings ; the Ajuga by division ; whilst 

 the Stellaria, which has got into bad repute through being improperly 



