ANNUAL FLOWERS 41 



and once seeds are permitted to form the flowers cease to 

 appear. This is, of course, quite natural. An annual is 

 generally frail at least its quick growth does not signify that 

 it is able to support seed and blossom at once. The truth is 

 gardening is not a lazy pastime, but demands constant watch- 

 fulness and attention to small details. Keep the poppy pods 

 picked off immediately the last petals have fluttered to the 

 ground, and treat everything in the same way, Sweet Peas 

 especially, for no annual "gives out," as the gardener says, 

 more quickly than this fragrant annual when the seed pods 

 are permitted to remain. When these necessary details are 

 attended to, flowers are produced until frost puts an end to 

 all things of this nature. 



To sum up, annual flowers must have greater attention 

 than is usually given to them ; the soil must be enriched and 

 properly prepared, making heavy ground fine, and working in 

 half-rotted stable manure, wood ashes, or rough sand, any- 

 thing of this character to lighten it. An open and porous soil 

 is necessary. Sow thinly, and not too deeply. When the 

 seed is very small, a very light covering, amounting almost to 

 sprinkling, will suffice. Keep the seedlings free from weeds 

 and the mature plants from ripening seeds. 



Half-Hardy Annuals. The words "half-hardy" are used 

 to denote those kinds of tender growth ; and seeds must 

 either be sown quite early in the year, under glass, or 

 late in the spring when frosts are neither severe nor 

 frequent. The China Aster is typical of a half-hardy 

 annual, and there are many families as showy and as useful 

 in the summer garden. The amateur gardener will pro- 

 bably choose a simple hot-bed for sowing the seeds upon, 

 and with this warmth many things may be raised with a small 

 amount of trouble and expense. Select for the seed a quite 

 shallow pan or pot, and always sow thinly, and usually not 

 before late February, and through March and April. It is 

 useless to sow very early in the year ; the plants appear in the 

 dark days, make little progress, and become miserably drawn 

 out and weedy. Only by a steady growth to insure vigour 

 and " solidity," so to speak, is it possible to obtain a wealth of 

 flowers true in colour and in form. A mixture of loam, well- 

 decaved manure, leaf-mould, and sharp silver sand will 

 suffice for soil ; and in watering immerse the receptacle to 

 the rim, so as to allow the water to soak up through the hole 

 in the bottom. When the surface of the soil is watered, the 

 seed is frequently washed to one side of the receptacle. 

 A hot temperature is unnecessary, and the thermometer 

 should never go beyond 65 degrees. Of course, the object of 



