Ixil INTRODUCTION. 



have made considerable progress, and may then be sub- 

 jected to a process of hardening off, or gradual inuring 

 to the conditions of the outer air, preparatory to being 

 finally transferred to their permanent positions in the 

 borders. Shading should have been discontinued some 

 time before this, and a little air have been left on by 

 tilting at the back at night. And now the air may be 

 freely increased at night, and the lights be taken off in 

 the daytime, using them only for the purpose of protect- 

 ing the plants from heavy thunder-showers and chilly 

 nights, till near the end of the month, when they may 

 be laid aside altogether, as by that time the plants may 

 be turned out without any risk, notwithstanding their 

 tender nursing. 



We must return to the seed-frame briefly. Many kinds 

 of seeds, as before stated, are slow to come away, and 

 must not be hastened, as nothing is to be gained thereby 

 in their case. But impatience and hasty decisions as to 

 the probability of their ever making a start should not 

 be allowed to affect the chance of their germinating, by 

 inducing careless treatment. A uniform equable tem- 

 perature should be kept up as long as there is any hope, 

 and that should extend in the case of some subjects at 

 least till the following season. Some Ra?mnctilacece, as 

 Anemone and Trollius, Lilies and other LiliacecE, the 

 perennial Gentians, Primula, and others of the same 

 natural order — some UmbellifercB, as Eryngium and its 

 allies, and Iris and other hardy genera of that natural 

 order — are often slow to germinate (not, however, invari- 

 ably so), to the extent of lying dormant after sowing for 

 twelve months ; but if they do not start the first season 

 they may do so the second, and therefore they should 



