INTRODUCTION. Ixiii 



not hastily be disposed of. The majority of the kinds 

 will, however, have germinated if they are to do so the 

 first season by the middle or end of July, and up to that 

 time the treatment indicated should be kept up. By the 

 middle of August, at latest, all efforts at inducing those 

 which have not germinated to do so that season should 

 cease, and more air be admitted, even to the removal 

 of the lights wholly during the day, heavy battering 

 showers only being objectionable, and they must be ex- 

 cluded by all means. Cleanliness and complete freedom 

 from weeds require to be attended to throughout the 

 autumn and winter, and the following March should be 

 begun by the same treatment as has already been de- 

 tailed. Those seedlings which have started late, and 

 weakly subjects generally, should not be hazarded out 

 in the open borders the first winter. In soils that are 

 liable to much disturbance by frost, and wet soils in par- 

 ticular, they would have but little chance of surviving 

 the ordeal ; and even if they cannot be afforded frame 

 accommodation, it would be better, nevertheless, to keep 

 them in their pots, plunging them compactly together in 

 some sheltered handy corner, where their condition and 

 requirements may be taken in at a glance. 



In the foregoing details the circumstances of the 

 better-appointed classes of amateur and other small 

 gardens only have been taken into consideration. With 

 humbler appliances, such as hand-glasses, however, the 

 treatment required is the same, the difference being only 

 in the structure. More economy of space and labour 

 will attend the practice of sowing simply in the soil 

 without pots, each sort in a line, or part of a line, by 

 itself; but unless the cultivator, from long experience, 



