plants from the hot-bed, cold-frame and seed-bed shall be transplanted to the border or beds where 

 they are to flower, and these helps are intended mainly for Tender and Half-Hardy Annuals, 

 described in an article on the Classification of Flowers, on another page. The Hardy Annuals 

 may be sown where they are to flower, though, with the exception of a few varieties difficult to 

 transplant, it is best to sow all in a seed-bed. 



All seeds of hardy and half-hardy Annuals, and Perennials, and, in fact, nearly all flower 

 seeds, can be sown in the South in the autumn. The plants are thus enabled to make vigorous 

 growth in the early spring, and become well matured before the heat of summer. The Perennials 

 should be sown so early as to make a fair growth before winter sets in. Then they will flower 

 the next summer. The Hardy Annuals generally do best sown rather late, so that the seed will 

 remain in the ground and be ready to start at the first approach of spring. 



TRANSPLANTING. 



All the operations of the garden should be done with neatness : no crooked, irregular rows 

 are admissible. The engraving shows how easily lines are marked in a bed with a rod or ruler. 

 After plants in the seed-beds have obtained their second leaves and made an inch or two cf 

 growth, they should be removed to the garden beds or border. This should be done on a dull, 

 showery day, if possible, if not, the plants may require shading after removal until they become 

 established. In transplanting in dry weather, always give the plants as they stand in the seed- 

 bed a good soaking with water, and also the soil 

 to which they are to be removed, an hour or so 

 before removal. In removing, disturb the roots 

 as little as possible. If the plants are not too 

 thick, there is no need of injuring the roots ; and 

 in sowing, it is well to have this in view, and 

 sow evenly and thinly. As soon as the young 

 plants come up, if too thick, a portion should be 

 removed. A few plants, with long tap-roots, 

 will not bear removal well. The Larkspurs are 

 difficult : and these and the Poppies, and plants 



MARKING FOR PLANTING. with like roots, should be sown where they are 



to flower. Still, there are few plants but can be removed when young, with proper care. Sweet 

 Peas, Candytuft, and a few flowers of similar character, that do best if sown as early as the 

 ground can be got ready, should always be sown where they are to flower. 



DISAPPOINTED CULTIVATORS. 



Many years of experience and careful estimates have convinced me that while nearly all 

 of my customers succeed in growing excellent flowers from the seeds they receive, and are 

 not only satisfied, but enthusiastic over the results, some two or three per cent, totally fail, 

 or fail to such an extent as to feel quite dissatisfied with the expenditure and labor of the 

 season. To this small number I cannot give much space, but will make a few remarks that may 

 be profitable, and prevent disappointment in the future. 

 Some are disappointed because flowers do not prove 

 what they expected. It should be remembered that I 

 do not agree that flowers shall meet the expectations of- ; 

 any person. The first thing is to ascertain what it is 

 right to expect. Not the notion of any person, but the 

 descriptions I have given must be the standard. The 

 descriptions and drawings are not exaggerated, yet they 

 represent plants and flowers that have been well grown : 



neglected, half-starved plants will present a very different _ .. 



r r 7 Full length portrait of some unhappy 



appearance. Any specimen of the animal as well as the woman - s husband. The man who thinks 

 vegetable kingdom will become dwarfed and deformed, and it nonsense for wife and girls to make 

 lose every trace of beauty by ill-treatment and neglect, flowerbeds. 



Then the descriptions must be well understood. If I call some little, delicate flower, like a 

 Lobelia, a fine variety, you have a right to expect it to be a fine Lobelia ; but have no right to 

 expect it to be as large, fine and showy as an Aster, a Ten-Weeks' Stock, or a Zinnia, or any 



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