IN MY LADY'S GARDEN 



broadly, for in this way it is easier to see what one is doing, 

 and the seedlings will not be so likely to be sown too 

 thickly. Rigorous thinning out, however, must be attended 

 to as soon as the seedlings appear, for no two plants should ; 

 be within 6 inches of each other ; and in the case of Shirley 

 poppies they will do better with still more room. Sweet 

 peas, mignonette, blue cornflower, coreopsis, Gypsophila 

 elegans, and sky-blue nemophila, with dwarf tropasolums, 

 &c., are flowers for every one to grow, as they are quite 

 hardy. Amongst the annuals that need a hot-bed to start them j 

 are alonsoa in variety (a beautiful flower in pure scarlet or 

 salmon-pink), Arctotis grandis, zinnias, Nemesia Suttoni 

 and its dwarf variety nana, and salpiglossis in various rich 

 velvety tints ; as well as the more common asters, stocks, 

 and French marigolds, which are not amongst our special 

 favourites. 



A mild hot-bed under a frame is an excellent place in 

 which to raise half-hardy seedlings ; it is then easy to 

 supply them with plenty of air as they grow, and they should 

 be pricked out into boxes of light, rich soil as soon as they 

 have four leaves, hardening them gradually as the season 

 advances until they are ready to be placed in flowering 

 positions in May. Those who do not possess a frame can 

 raise them in boxes in a greenhouse with slight warmth ; or, 

 for late flowering, the seeds may be sown in a warm corner 

 of the garden early in May, covering them with a glass of 

 some sort, but admitting a little air. Seeds need but little 

 soil as a covering, and deep sowing is a common cause of 

 failure ; but as soon as they are up they should have a light 

 sprinkling of very fine soil, if sown near the surface. 

 Poppies do not require this, however, for they quickly 

 penetrate the soil, and they are not easily transplanted, 

 except in their earliest stages, when the tiny plants can be 

 taken up with plenty of soil on the tip of the trowel and 

 planted elsewhere without disturbunce of their roots. All 

 these annuals need properly dug soil ; it is useless to sow 

 them in a border which has not been mulched and forked 

 up since the winter, for they will do nothing in such a place. 



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