FLOWER-GARDENING. 31 



are distributed along the border in succession, and as each bag 

 will be sufficient for three circles, sixty circles, or three assort- 

 ments 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. 



Herbaceous plants in general will not flower well if grown in 

 clusters. They should, therefore, be thinned or transplanted 

 into the regular beds, at all favorable opportunities, after they 

 have grown 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 colors, 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 flower- 

 ing 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. 



BIENNIAL AND PERENNIAL FLOWER SEED. 



The remarks preceding our Catalogue of Annuals will, with 

 few exceptions, apply to that of Biennials and Perennials ; and 

 the circulation of the sap in the roots and stalks of plants is 

 influenced by like causes and subject to the same vicissitudes as 

 the germination of seed. This principle is exemplified by some 

 plants of various species putting forth their leaves and flowers 

 at a later period than others in the same location, as if waiting 



