84 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE, 
bright yellow colour, and so freely produced that the plants usually 
become quite solid with bloom. It is now well known for its value 
for bedding purposes, but few cultivators are aware that plants raised 
from seed sown in the beds are in no way inferior to those raised in 
heat, excepting that they do not commence to bloom so early. The 
seed of the Marigolds and Tagetes should be sown in April, and the 
plants be thinned moderately. 
The best of the plants with coloured leafage, that are well suited 
for bedding purposes, and can be raised from seed are, Perilla Nan- 
kinensis, one of the most useful of the free-growing dark-leaved plants, 
and Pyrethrum Golden Feather, which still remains one of the best 
yellow-leaved plants for edging purposes. The seed of the Perilla 
should be sown in April, and the plants thinned to six inches apart, 
but the Golden Feather should be sown at once, and the plants 
thinned to two inches. When required for edgings it can be sown 
round the margin, and the ceatre of the beds be filled up with other 
things at the usual season. 
The other subjects that will be enumerated should, for various 
reasons, be sown in the borders, and to produce a thoroughly satis- 
factory effect they must be arranged with some degree of regularity. 
For example, at regular intervals in the front or second row there 
should be clumps of stocks in the back row at stated intervals, 
clumps of sweet peas and so forth, other things being of course 
sown between them. ‘The flowers for the border comprise Aséers in 
variety, the peony-flowered being the most effective. German and 
Pyramidal Ten-Week Stocks, in variety ; Convolvulus Minor ; Nastur- 
tiwms of the Tom Thumb section, of which the yellow and scarlet 
forms are the best; Larkspurs,in variety ; Senecio elegans, dwarf, 
free, and continuous in flowering; the purple and rose-coloured 
varieties are the most effective. Saponaria calabrica is a very pretty 
pink-flowered annual, and in the more northern counties it blooms 
continuously throughout the season; but in the neighbourhood of 
London and further south, it is only suitable for borders, because of 
the comparatively short space of time it remains in bloom. Sweet 
Peas in mixture are so effective where sown in rather large clumps 
along the back of the border, and are, moreover, so useful for 
supplying cut flowers, that they can be strongly recommended. 
They should be sown at once in rings about fifteen inches in 
diameter, and when a few inches in height, sticks four feet high put 
to them. To insure their flowering freely, the pods must be 
removed as soon as they are formed. The seeds of all the subjects 
mentioned in this paragraph, with the exception of the peas, will 
require to be sown inthe second or third week in April, and the peas 
must be sown early in March. 
Importep PotaToEs 1n 1875.—The declared value of potatoes imported into the 
United Kingdom last year was £1,071,513, against £1,035,589 in the previous year. 
An INTERNATIONAL Exurpirion or Porarors will be held at the Alexandra 
Palace, Muswell Hill, on September 28 and 29, when prizes amounting to upwards 
of £100 will be offered for competition. 
