54 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



or newspaper, or in a bell-glass placed mouth upwards, to 

 ripen ; then, as they arrive at perfection, the seeds will be 

 shed, and none will be lost, and if the plants were good, the 

 seed will pay for the trouble of saving-. 



It is a very strange thing, and hardly to be believed, 

 that there is not to be found in any systematic treatise on 

 gardening a really good code of balsam culture. In plain 

 truth, the books are all wrong upon the subject, and as the 

 opportunity is now offered to put them right, we propose 

 to do so. Let it be understood, then, to begin with, that 

 the right way occasions less trouble than the wrong way, 

 and the result is a free development of healthy leafage and 

 splendid flowers. The essence of the proceeding consists in 

 growing the plant generously and somewhat rapidly from 

 the first, and guarding it against any possible check. Sup- 

 pose we desire to have a fine bed of balsams. We secure 

 the very best seed, and sow it in light rich soil, in pans or 

 boxes, in the month of April. These pans or boxes should 

 be placed on the sunny shelf of a greenhouse, or in a warm 

 corner of a pit, and be kept moderately watered. The 

 plants will soon appear, and as soon as they have about 

 three rough leaves, they should be pricked out, three or 

 four inches apart, in other boxes, in light rich soil ; or be 

 potted separately in thumb-pots, and be again nursed in 

 the warm pit or greenhouse, where they should have plenty 

 of air, and never suffer in the least through lack of water. 

 If they grow fast, and the weather is too cold to permit of 

 planting them out, give them a shift into 60 size (three- 

 inch) pots before they become pot-bound, for, as remarked 

 above, there must be no. check whatever. When the 

 weather is warm -and dull, say about the first or second 

 week in June, plant them out in a sunny position, in rich 



