ANNUALS WORTHY AND UNWORTHY 77 



comes to tending hotbeds, giving the exact quantity 

 of water necessary to quench the thirst of seedlings 

 without producing dropsy, and the consequent "damping 

 off " which, when it suddenly appears, seems as intan- 

 gible and makes one feel as helpless as trying to check a 

 backing horse by helpless force of bit. A frame for 

 Margaret carnations, early asters, and experiments in 

 seedling Dahlias and chrysanthemums will be quite 

 enough. 



The woman who lives all the year in the country 

 can so manage that her spring bulbs and hardy borders, 

 together with the roses, last well into July. After this 

 the annuals must be depended upon for ground colour, 

 and to supplement the phloxes, gladioli, Dahlias, and 

 the like. By the raising of these seeds in hotbeds they 

 are apt to reach their high tide of bloom during the 

 most intense heat of August, when they quickly mature 

 and dry away; while, on the other hand, if they are 

 reared in an open-air seed bed, they are not only 

 stronger but they last longer, owing to more deliberate 

 growth. Asters sown out-of-doors in May bloom well 

 into October, when the forced plants barely outlast 

 August. 



Of many annuals it is writ in the catalogues, "sow 

 at intervals of two weeks or a month for succession." 



