156 CULTIVATION. 



to the bottom with a penknife. This trimming 

 is to prevent moisture settling round the swelling 

 capsule. The seed ripens about the end of Sep- 

 tember, and should not be gathered till it is of a 

 dark brown or black colour. It should be kept 

 in a dry place, and in the capsules, till after 

 Christmas, when it may be rubbed out and put 

 up in paper, or, in what Hr. Hogg thinks better, 

 small well-corked phials. 



The seed should be sown about the middle of 

 April, in deep seedling pans or large pots, and 

 covered lightly with finely sifted compost. If 

 placed in a glazed frame or under a hand-glass, 

 they will, if properly attended to, rise quickly 

 and in more safety. Wlien up and furnished with 

 two or three pairs of leaves, inure them to the 

 full air as soon as possible, to check them running 

 up too spindling ; and soon after this, they may 

 be planted out in beds about ten inches apart, 

 where they may remain to flower. The bed or 

 beds should be prepared by deep digging, and 

 enriched by a pretty liberal dressing of rotten 

 dung and leaf mould ; and no wider than can be 



