iSyi.] SOWING OF CALIFORNIAN ANNUALS. 421 



poor, sandy, and dry, so much the better ; digging and sowing, either 

 in drill or broadcast, is all that is necessary in this case. But if rich 

 and retentive, it will be necessary to reduce the staple by the addition 

 of sand, lime, rubbish, or fine-sifted ashes; and further, in order to se- 

 cure the best possible drainage for the young plants, it will be advisable 

 to raise the bed in the centre-ridge fashion. If all this is needed, drill- 

 sowing is the best in the circumstances ; and the drills should be ranged 

 across the ridge, not along it, because the plants will thereby enjoy 

 greater variety of aspect, and will be also less liable to suffer from 

 stagnation at all points of the drill, for the top of the ridge will always 

 be in a tolerably well-drained condition in even the most unfavourable 

 cases. Wherever a line can be sown along the base of a west or south 

 waU the plants may be expected to do well, and to come very early into 

 flower the following spring. In severe weather, long continued, they 

 will require some kind of protection. A few saplings hooped over the 

 bed, so as to support mats, or well-clothed Spruce branches, will be 

 found quite sufficient covering in ordinary winters in any locality ; 

 and these coverings should only be put on when the weather is so severe 

 as to cause apprehension of destruction to the plants, and be removed 

 again as soon as it improves. The plants will require to be thinned 

 before winter sets in, so as to stand quite clear one of another; and 

 some attention will be needed from time to time afterwards to keep 

 them quite free from decaying leaves, and any other cause of damp- 

 ing that may find a place among them. Those that can devote hand- 

 glasses or cold frames to the wintering of them will have their prospects 

 of success increased, and will, besides, be rewarded by the earliest 

 possible crop of flowers. Under glass they will require similar treat- 

 ment to Cauliflower, Calceolarias, or Pentstemons. Give air at all 

 times except during the most severe weather. Eemove the lights 

 wholly on bright mild days, and keep them on, but tilted, in wet ones. 

 Give water sparingly, only enough to prevent flagging, till the days 

 lengthen and the plants begin growing vigorously. In March they 

 should undergo a process of hardening off, so that they may be planted 

 out in April as early as possible. If they have been wintered in the 

 open ground they will require no hardening off preparatory to plant- 

 ing out, but any protection that may have been given to the seed-bed 

 should be removed a few days beforehand ; and in the event of bad 

 weather setting in after planting out, it will be advisable to stick a 

 spray of Spruce close to each plant so as to arch over it. The first 

 spring sowing will be early enough made in the end of April, and a 

 second may be made the first week of June. The latter should be 

 made on a west or east aspect, where the plants will come away more 

 vigorously than if sown in full exposure to the sun. All that may be 



