3 i8 FLOWERS ALL THE YEAR ROUND 



should be grown with as little artificial aid as possible In fact, the 

 more nearly it is treated as a hardy plant, the more vigorous and free 

 flowering will it be. A temperature of 60 is sufficient to raise the 

 seed at this period of the year ; and after the plants are established 

 in pots, heat may be gradually dispensed with. Sow in pans or boxes 

 filled with rich, mellow, and very sweet soil. Transfer to thumb pots 

 when large enough, and give one or two more shifts as growth de- 

 mands, until the plants are ready for bedding out in May. Green 

 Fly is very partial to the Verbena, especially while in pots ; it must 

 be kept down, or the seedlings will make no progress. There is a 

 choice of distinct colours, which come true from seed. 



FEBRUARY 



A CONSIDERABLE number of important flowers should be sown during 

 this month. The precise dates depend partly on the character of 

 the season, and partly on the resources of the cultivator. Should 

 the month open with frost, or with rough wet weather, it will be wise 

 to exercise a little patience. Where there are insufficient means 

 for battling with sudden variations of temperature, choose the end 

 rather than the beginning of the month for starting tender subjects. 

 Govern the work by intelligent observation, instead of following hard 

 and fast rules. But in no case should fear of the weather form an 

 excuse for the postponement of any duty which certainly ought not 

 to be deferred. 



ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS, HARDY. It is one of the merits of 

 hardy annuals and biennials sown in late summer for blooming in 

 the following spring, that they need very little attention. Still they 

 ought not to be entirely neglected. They should be kept scrupu- 

 lously free from weeds, and it may be evident that a mulch of 

 decayed manure is necessary to protect and strengthen them for a 

 rich display of colour in the spring. Such varieties as have to be 

 transplanted should be watched, and the first suitable opportunity 

 seized for transferring them to flowering positions. 



ABUTILON is a flowering greenhouse shrub which answers well 

 under the treatment of an annual. It does not need a forcing 

 temperature at any stage, nor is the plant fastidious as to soil. The 

 seed, which is both slow and irregular in germinating, may be sown 

 in pots. As the young plants become ready they should be pricked 

 off and kept steadily growing. When leaves drop it indicates mis- 



