22 PLANTING OF BEDS. 



It has been a debated point among florists, wheth- 

 er plots or baskets should be devoted each to a par- 

 ticular variety of flower, or receive flowers of dif- 

 ferent kinds, flowering at seperate seasons. Thus, 

 many ladies set apart, one plot of ground for ane- 

 mones only another plot receives only pansies, 

 and so on. There is much to be said on both sides 

 the question. 



If a plot of ground is devoted to one variety of 

 flower only, you can give it the appropriate mould, 

 and amuse your eye with its expanse of bright col- 

 oring. Nothing is more beautiful than a bed of 

 pansies, or a bed of the bright and glowing scarlet 

 verbina ; nothing can exceed the gay and flaunty 

 tints of a bed of tulips, or the rich hues of the lilac 

 and the white petunia. A large space of garden 

 allows its possessor to revel in seperate beds of 

 flowers, whose beauty is increased two-fold by 

 masses ; and from that very space, the eye does 

 not so easily discover the melancholy appearance 

 of one or more plots exhibiting nothing but dark 

 mould, and withered stems, arising from the earlier 

 sorts being out of bloom. 



But in less spacious gardens, this gloomy and 

 mournful vacuum must be avoided. Every border 

 and plot of ground should exhibit a gay succession 

 of flowers in bloom ; and that object can only be 

 effected by a pretty equal distribution of flowers of 

 early and late growth. As the May flowers droop, 

 the June productions supply their place ; and these, 

 again, are followed in succession till the Golden 

 rod and Michaelmas daisy announce the decadence 

 of the parterre for the year. 



Yet every flower may be supplied with its favor- 

 ite soil, with a little patience and observation. A 



