ANNUAL AND BIENNIAL PLANTS. 57 



plants which come from seed true to the type through many genera- 

 tions, like Verbena venosa. Seedling Verbenas make a handsome bed, 

 and usually do much better so grown than from cuttings. Balsams, 

 again, are not half so much used for open-air decoration as they 

 deserve to be, and those who have only seen them starving in small 

 pots cannot form an idea of their beauty when planted out in good r 

 open soil, away from trees and in warm soils. Take the border 

 Pansies in various shades of purple, yellow, and white. Varieties may 

 be raised in the early spring for planting out the same summer, and so- 

 of the Verbena, Pelargonium, Pyrethrum, Salvia patens, S. argentea, 

 Heliotrope, and Snapdragons, which should be sown in heat in January; 

 to the Petunia, Phlox Drummondi, Dianthus, Indian Pink, Ageratum, 

 and Lobelia, which in February should be sown in pans in heat, andr 

 if kept growing, will be ready for planting out in May. Begonias for 

 bedding maybe grown from seed in the same year, but are more effective 

 if raised during the preceding year, selected according to colour, and 

 stored in winter ready for bedding out early in summer. Fuchsias 

 sown in January flower well in August. Of fine-leaved plants which 

 can be raised from seed for use in the open-air the same year, there 

 are Amaranthus, Celosia, Centaurea, Cineraria, Humea, Canna, 

 Chamaepeuce, Nicotiana, Ricinus, Solanum, and Wigandia. 



Old plants of Verbenas and like plants kept through the winter 

 harbour the eggs of vermin always ready to eat up the collection 

 if it is neglected for a week, but, starting with clean houses and 

 frames, and with seeds in early spring, the gardener makes a better 

 fight against his many insect enemies. As regards the plants one 

 would like to raise in this way, seedsmen should select and fix distinct 

 colours of different races of plants. It would not be difficult to select 

 a bluish or purple Verbena which one might count on as coming 

 pretty true from seed. We have so much relied upon cuttings and 

 old plants that the raising of fine seedlings has seldom had fair 

 attention. Many raise seeds, but few give the early thinning, the 

 light, the sturdy growth, and the unchecked culture that seedlings 

 require ; but now, when we may raise not only the annual pure and 

 simple, but the half-hardy flower-garden plants, and the nobler hardy 

 plants like Carnations and Hollyhocks, seed-raising for the flower 

 garden deserves much attention. 



Biennial plants are usually such as make their growth in one year 



and flower the next, but the line between biennial and annual is 



not a strict one, because in their native countries 



Biennial plants, annual plants often spring up in one year, and 



flower the next. In countries with open winters 



and hot summers, annuals do so naturally, and begin to grow in 



the first rains through the winter, and flower strongly the next 



