CHAP. Xli VILLA GARDENING 7o 



Castor-oil plants are cheap, the latter from seed, and the former 

 by seeds and division of the roots. The roots may either remain 

 in the ground all winter covered deeply with litter, or be taken 

 up before frost sets in and placed on the border of the orchard 

 house, or some cool structure where the frost is only just kept 

 out. Single Dahlias pegged down make excellent bedding plants 

 for large masses, and they may be treated as annuals, saving 

 seeds from the best flowers, sowing them early in March in the 

 hotbed, and planting out about the third week in May. Except 

 for the piu-pose of perpetuating some special flower, there is no 

 particular advantage in saving the old roots, or in buying named 

 sorts for merely bedding purposes, as seedlings are very eft'ective, 

 only they cannot be relied on to come true to colour, as seeds saved 

 from a white or yellow flower may produce plants bearing flowers 

 of many shades of colour. With the aid of 



Hardy Plants and Annuals a very pretty garden may 

 be had without going to the expense of keeping a single plant through 

 the winter under glass. Beds of Stocks, Asters, Phlox Dnnnmondi, 

 dwarf Scabious, Chinese Pinks, Marigolds, Violas, Verbenas, Pe- 

 tunias, Zinnias, Mignonette, Antirrhinums, Pentstemons, single 

 Dahlias, Tom Thumb Nasturtiums, and the annual Chrysanthe- 

 mums, with the diff"erent varieties of Calliopsis, will make a very 

 pretty garden, more refined in aspect than if filled full of glaring 

 colours. With a heap of fermenting materials in March, and a 

 few frames or some old boards and lights to shelter and protect 

 the young seedlings whilst tender, ten thousand, or at least enough 

 plants for a good-sized garden, may be raised for a comparatively 

 small cost — at least for a much less sum than by any other system. 

 No great amount of heat is required to start all the seeds named 

 towards the end of March, as the sun, with the aid of glass, will 

 do most of the work. The seeds should be sown moderately thin 

 in pans or pots. I cover with sand — the young seedlings push so 

 easily through it — as it never cakes. I have, for the same reason, 

 often used the fine dust from the coke heajD, and finely-sifted ashes 

 will do as well. This kind of covering prevents damping, and 

 when pricked off the stems of the little plants come out clean and 

 wiry. As soon as they are large enough to handle properly, give 

 more ventilation to harden them for two or three days, then prick 

 off an inch or so apart in boxes. I like boxes, because the little 

 plants do not dry up so fast if hot weather sets in before they are 

 planted out, and it economises space, as quite a small box will 

 hold from 100 to 150 plants. Many of the biennials may be in- 

 duced to flower the same year if the seeds be sown early in heat — 

 Hollyhocks, for instance, and Foxgloves. Many of the annual 



