BEDDING PLANTS. 59 



coolest house, where' they can be given abundant ventilation and full 

 sun at all times. About two quarts of soot to a barrel of water makes 

 a good liquid manure. For blooming out-of-doors sow thinly as soon 

 as weather permits. 



For early flowering seed may be sown during the first half of August. 

 The method of sowing the seed on the benches is the one there is the 

 least difficulty with, and that calling for the least amount of intelli- 

 gent care, as a number of seeds can be sown at each station where they 

 are intended to flower, and the strongest plants left. This system is 

 not always convenient, however. Other methods consist of sowing in 

 pots and planting from them, or in boxes or pans, and pricked out from 

 these into'small pots, shifting if necessary, and planting out when the 

 proper time arrives. Mignonette seedlings, when they get beyond a 

 certain size, are exceedingly difficult to prick off successfully; but when 

 taken as soon as they can be handled there is little danger of failure if 

 ordinary precautions are taken against damping off, suffering from too 

 much or too little water, or from the direct rays of the sun until the 

 seedlings are established. Mignonette likes cool treatment, so that 

 attempts to coddle it by giving a high, close atmosphere will not pro- 

 duce flowers worth the cutting, if they ever reach the flowering stage. 

 The soil to grow it in should be well enriched with cow manure, and 

 well firmed before either sowing or planting. There are several kinds 

 on the market to select from; but there is not so much in the variety as 

 in the way it is grown. 



MIMULUS MOSCHATUS— An old-fashioned plant with a musky odor. 

 It will keep in a frame during the Winter, and may be brought indoors 

 early in the season, divided into small pieces and potted. It grows best 

 in a shaded cool house, or it may be planted out in a moist shady spot. 



niRABILIS JALAPA— This species (the Marvel of Peru or Four 

 o'clock) has tuberous roots, and in Winter may be stored in the same 

 way as the roots of the Dahlia, or raised annually from seeds sown in- 

 doors. The flowers are very showy, of various colors, principally yel- 

 low, crimson, red and white. 



NlEREriBERQIA FRUTESCENS and N. GRACILIS— Seeds of these 

 should be sown in September and plants wintered in a frame. The fol- 

 lowing Summer they will make much better subjects than from Spring- 

 sown seed. They are principally used in large vases, but they make 

 exceedingly showy plants for the rock garden and border. 



NIQELLA DAflASCENA— As soon as the weather permits seeds may 

 be sown rather thinly where the plants are intended to bloom in the 

 open border. 



OXALIS— For outdoor blooming during September and October 

 knock out a few plants from their flowering pots and start some of the 

 largest bulbs about the middle of July in 3-inch pots. Use light soil. 

 Some of the plants will be in flower inside of a month. They can be used 

 as bedders, to take the places of plants which die off as the result of 

 warm weather; for instance, Ten-Week Stocks, Lobelias and Pansies. 

 Oxalis Bowiei, O. hirta, O. rosacea, and one which goes under the name 



