ANNUAL FLOWER SEED. 



27 



..> perform this business is, after "having pulverized the soil, 

 to impress circular drills in the surface with the rim of a 

 flower pot, which may be large or small, according to fancy. 

 By sowing seed in such circular drills, the plants can be more 

 easily traced than when scattered promiscuously over the 

 ground, and the weeds can be destroyed with less risk and 

 trouble. Such kinds as are marked in the Catalogue thus * 

 may remain as sown, or, if parted, they should be removed 

 with a scoop trowel in a careful manner, in small tufts ; and 

 this business, as well as transplanting in general, should 

 always be done immediately preceding or after rain, and in 

 cloudy weather.t 



Herbaceous plants in general will not flower well if grown 

 in clusters; they should, therefore, be thinned or trans- 

 planted into the regular beds, at all favourable opportunities, 

 after they get about an inch in height ; and as there is always 

 a risk of some plants not taking root, it is safest to plant a 

 few of each sort every time, taking care to diversify the 

 colours, and also to leave a few plants in the seed beds, for 

 the purpose of substituting in the room of such plants whose 

 period of flowering may be over ; as is the case generally 

 with early Perennial plants and bulbs, at about the season 

 that the last of the Annuals are fit to remove. 



The transplanting may be done with a small trowel, or a 

 neat dibble made for the purpose. 



t The risk and trouble of transplanting may be avoided by adopting the fol- 

 lowing method of sowing the seed. Take a dollar package of twenty varieties, 

 and number the bags from one to twenty ; then sow a circle from each bag 

 in the order in which they are numbered, and insert a short stick in the 

 centre of each circle as a mark. By this method the twenty varieties are 

 distributed along the border in succession, and as each bag will be sufficient 

 for three circles, sixty circles, or three assortments of twenty varieties, may 

 be sown in three different aspects of the garden, which will not only give 

 the various flowers the best possible chance with regard to exposure, but 

 show the varieties to the greatest possible advantage. By preserving the 

 bags, the mere novice, by referring to the name .and number on each, will 

 become acquainted with the different varieties, from the order in which they 

 stand in his garden. This system may be practised to advantage either on 

 a large or small scale. 



