JULY. 



347 



aged as their merits deserve, chiefly perhaps from the ahnost general im- 

 pression that their blossoms are but short lived. It cannot be denied that 

 such is often the case, but 1 wish it to be known that this is owing more to 

 mismanagemeYit than to the real deficiencies of the plants. Some of them 

 may be noticed in the parterres of our nobles, in the small gardens of the 

 citizen amateur, and in the borders surrounding the humble cottage; but 

 owing to carelessness or injudicious management they are rendered of 

 ephemeral duration, although many of them have good recommendations, 

 such as color, habit, and profusion of bloom. The Zinnias even dazzle the 

 eyes when looking on them beneath a hot summer's sun; the glittering 

 Portulaccas, the dwarf and lovely Meaembryanthemum bicolor, the nice 

 Calandrinia splendens, the beautifully veined Salpiglossis, the rich dark and 

 light blue of Eutoca viscida, and Nemophila insignis, the splendid Platyste- 

 mon californicum, Phlox Drummondi, Campanulas, Stocks, Lobelias, Gilias, 

 Asters, Indian pinks, and a great quantity of others, arise in ray memory 

 and claim a notice, but particularly the truly handsome Sphenogyne speci- 

 osa. When well managed, a bed of this plant cannot be equalled for the 

 richness of its peculiar color, viz., orange yellow, with a dark eye, each 

 flower being larger than a half crown piece. Annuals are too often sown 

 so thickly in the open border that the plants choke each other in growing, 

 and are starved into a premature maturity. In this case the real resources 

 of the plants are not developed, and premature decay is the natural result; 

 the blossoms are no sooner partially produced than their career is run. The 

 duration of some annuals, I must acknowledge, is brief, and to have a sum- 

 mer's display constant forethought must be exercised to keep up a succes- 

 sion, but still they are capable of a much greater degree of usefulness than 

 they in general afford ; many of them being of easy culture and soon out of 

 bloom, we are careless in recognizing the fact that they demand attention 

 to induce them to fully develop their beauties. It often happens that annu- 

 als, sown early under the protection of frames, are kept too warm and there- 

 by rendered weakly, and they are mostly too thick and in small pots ; those 

 placed in the borders or beds are either sown and left to grow without at- 

 tention, or are transplanted from the frames in weak tangled massos, unable 

 to struggle successfully Avith their change of circumstances, which renders 

 their brief duration a great deal more limited. As a general rule, annuals 

 should b6 treated as individual plants, at least this course should be adopted 

 in the early stages of their growth ; the greater length of time they flower, 

 size of their blooms, strong and healthy habit are the best recommendations 

 I can offer in favor of such a system. For some of the later annuals a good 

 plan is to sow their seeds in some convenient situation, in a light shallow 

 soil, well incorporated with fine leaf mould in order to induce an abundance 

 of fibres. It is well to render the natural surface perfectly solid, and add 

 artificially all the soil required. As soon as the plants are of sufficient size, 

 they should be transplanted into a situation similarly prepared to that where 

 the seeds were sown, and at sufficient distances from each other, to allow 

 their removal with as little mutilation of the roots as possible. If a con- 

 stant succession of plants is provided in this way they can be moved at any 



