38 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



soil again with the board gently. It is now of great importance 

 that the seeds, as they vegetate, should be protected from the 

 scorching suri ; an evergreen bough is as good as anything to 

 shade them. The soil must not be permitted to get dry until 

 the young plants have acquired some strength ; after which 

 they may be left to take their chance from the effects of sun or 

 dryness. When the plants are of a proper size, and the weather 

 suitable, they may be taken up with a transplanting trowel, 

 and set where wanted. A small patch of this description will 

 afford plants enough for any common garden. In removing 

 them, a number may be taken up together without disturbing 

 the roots ; but when the plants have become established, all 

 may be cutoff except the strongest ones. As a general rule, a 

 single plant gives better satisfaction than when a number are 

 grown together, except when planted in masses, or where there 

 is to be a group. The beauty of many annuals is completely 

 destroyed by huddling them together. Give every plant room 

 according to its habits. A single plant, well trained, may be 

 made very beautiful; while a number of the same species, 

 grown together, without sufficient room, would be worthless. 



Larkspur, and many other seeds, should be sown where they 

 are to remain. A bed of Double Rocket Larkspur, well man- 

 aged, is almost equal to a bed of Hyacinths, when in bloom. 

 This succeeds best when sown late in autumn or very early in 

 the spring. The seed may be sown in drills, eight or ten inches 

 apart, in beds, and the plants well thinned out. Larkspur, and 

 many other hardy annual seeds, if sown late in autumn, and lie 

 dormant all winter, will give much stronger plants than the 

 sam'e kinds of seed sown very early in the spring, notwith- 

 standing those sown in the spring may appear above ground 

 as soon as those sown in autumn. The reason probably is, 

 that the autumnal sown seeds are so prepared, by the action 

 of the frost, that they start with greater vigor, and consequently 

 are more robust than the spring-sown seeds. 



Some seeds are difficult to germinate. Cypress vine is an 

 example. This requires scalding, to facilitate its germination; 



