FLOWERS. 173 



The limits of this book forbid my entering far into this 

 tempting field; I shall therefore offer only a few hints, as 

 they occur to me. 



In watering tender plants, care should be taken to have 

 the water of similar temperature as the plants to be watered, 

 and to avoid throwing the water directly on the collar or 

 neck of the plant. Indeed, the soil is better to be kept dry for 

 an inch or two around such plants, for moisture on the collar 

 frequently leads to disease in delicate plants. The collar or 

 neck, called sometimes the heart of the plant, is the point of 

 union for the ascending stem and branches, and the descend- 

 ing roots, and any injury done to this part of the plant leads 

 to disease or death. If lime-water is used to keep off insects, 

 the water should merely be made a little milky in color. 



Decayed leaves, that have been swept together in the fall, 

 and kept in a heap, and turned over once a month, form in 

 about a year the vegetable mould, which is the best manure 

 for flowering plants. 



Annuals or plants which live but one summer are, when 

 hardy, sown directly into the garden-soil, pressing the 

 ground with a spade or saucer, sprinkling the seed thinly, 

 and covering them merely with fine earth ; but the ten- 

 derer kinds are frequently matured in pots, and put into 

 the garden to flower, the first pot being very small, the next 

 one a little larger ; and when the roots have stuck to the ex- 

 tremities of the ball of earth contained in the second pot, 

 which can be ascertained by gently coaxing it into the hand, 

 it should be shifted into one a little larger, and so on till the 

 flower-buds begin to shoot, when it may at once be placed in 

 the garden, or, if kept in the house, be no more shifted. 

 Fill the pots up with light, rich mould, and see that coarse 

 bits of crock or similar matter form a good drainage to each 

 pot. Balsams and Cock's-combs that have been brought for- 

 ward in a healthy manner may be occasionally watered with 

 15* 



