Annuals 237 



from the rosy clouds, hurry off our list to the seedsman, buy 

 fertiliser and attend to other practical preliminaries. All annuals 

 may be sown in the open ground, even the tenderest of them, if one 

 wait till settled weather to plant them, but in that case one must 

 not expect flowers much before midsummer. If a hotbed, in 

 which to start the tender annuals and such hardy ones as one wishes 

 to begin to bloom earlier than they would if sown in the open 

 ground, cannot be had, shallow wooden boxes, two or three inches 

 deep, and of any convenient size, may be filled with very fine, 

 rich, sandy loam and placed in the sunny windows of the house 

 in February or March north of Philadelphia. The first of April 

 is not too late to start seeds in the vicinity of Chicago. Sods that 

 have been piled up to rot for several years, and then sifted until 

 thoroughly mixed with old black manure and sand, make the ideal 

 food for infants in the box nurseries. Soil from a spent hotbed 

 is the next best, or any good garden loam may be substituted if 

 need be. An intermixture of sand helps fine young roots to feel 

 their way about in search of food more readily. A bath of boiling 

 water poured over the boxes a day or two before the flower seeds 

 are sown kills whatever insect life and weed seeds are in them. 

 Boxes set in windows can furnish a limited supply of seedlings 

 only. More flats may be placed in a greenhouse if you are the 

 fortunate possessor of one. Flower-pots and even tin cans are 

 pressed into service by the enthusiastic. In any case, sow every 

 species more than once, indoors and out, to lessen the chances of 

 failure, if not to prolong the blooming season. 



Sooner or later every gardener feels the need of a hotbed, 

 and proceeds to make one. If it can be placed with full southern 

 exposure in a well-drained, sheltered spot, where the wall of a 

 building, a board fence or even an evergreen hedge at its back 



