102 FAMILIAR GAEDEN FLOWERS. 



seed in light, rich soil in the month of March, and put the 

 pan containing the seeds on a mild hotbed or in a warm 

 greenhouse. When the plants are somewhat forward they 

 should be pricked out into pans or pots, and have another 

 term of culture in a warm house, and having been hardened 

 by careful exposure to the air, be planted out where they 

 are to flower. The rough treatment that suits some half- 

 hardy annuals will simply fail to produce a fair bloom of 

 this pretty plant, for it requires a long season of growth 

 before flowering, and is decidedly tender in constitution. 

 When well grown, however, it is replete with refined 

 beauty, owing to the profusion and delicacy of its tiny 

 slaty-blue flowers, and so we recommend the diligent 

 amateur who can care for little things to grow a few nice 

 specimens in pots. Having raised the plants on a moderate 

 hotbed, prick them out to strengthen as already advised, and 

 instead of planting them out to flower, put them in eight- 

 inch pots, about four plants to a pot, using rich, light soil, 

 and grow them on in the greenhouse, training them up with 

 care, and keeping them near the glass and well ventilated. 



The elegant Schizant/ius pinnatus, S. porrigens, S. 

 Grahami, and S. retusus are closely allied to the Browallia, 

 and may be grown in the same way, but are less in need of 

 heat, as they are hardier. At all events, the two first- 

 named are hardy enough to be sown on the open border, 

 but are good enough to repay the trouble of growing them 

 well in pots, for they make most charming specimens ; and 

 the better if sown in autumn, so as to have a long season 

 of growth before flowering. 



These flowers belong to the important order ScropJm- 

 larineaR, in which we find not only the Browallia and 

 schizanthus, but the calceolaria, verbascum, antirrhinum, 



