12 JOTTINGS OF A GENTLEMAN GARDENER 



The arrangement of the clumps has also to be considered. 

 The novice and " pen-gardener " say : " Put the dwarfest 

 at the front and the tallest at the back." This is the 

 popular idea, and is often so well carried out that the plants 

 slope down from the tallest to the dwarfest at an almost 

 constant angle. But this is mistaken art. When you 

 see a border in which the gardener has put some tall bold 

 clumps near the front you admire him for his courage, 

 and like the bold border much better. So my advice is : 

 Do not think too much about the heights. Have courage 

 and put bold clumps occasionally near the front. They 

 will look nice. 



Having given this preliminary advice, I now pass on to 

 the operation of sowing. The soil having been previously 

 dug up and well manured, it should be raked to a fine 

 surface with a rake, the teeth of which are not too long. 

 The ground should be got ready some morning in the 

 first week in April, and the seeds sown the same afternoon. 



In sowing, scatter the seed thinly over the soil, first 

 marking out the shape of the clump with a stick. The 

 seed of many of the hardy annuals is very small, and may 

 be mixed with ten times its volume of fine sand, and the 

 sand and seed sown together. 



Great care should be taken to sow evenly, and a calm 

 day should be chosen, or the seed will be blown away. 

 Nothing is more annoying than to have bare patches in 

 parts of the clump, and in other parts seedlings coming up 

 so thickly that they stifle each other. This may be avoided 

 if the seed be sown thinly and evenly. 



In sowing the seed out of doors it is well to cover it lightly 

 with fine soil. If the ground is dry it should be gently 

 watered, and some means taken to keep off the birds; 

 black cotton stretched on sticks across the plot is effective. 



If the weather is dry after sowing, water regularly through 

 a fine rose every evening, for it is specially important that 

 the seedlings receive no check when they have appeared. 

 If the nights are cold and inclined to be frosty, do not 

 water till the morning. 



