SEED-SOWING. 37 



dens, by importing and supplying seeds of the most beautiful 

 plants of all climates at a just and reasonable rate. 



HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF FLOWER-SEEDS. 



Hardy Annuals are best sown in the open border in light 

 soil, from March to June for summer and autumn flowering ; 

 and in September for flowering the following spring. 



Half-hardy Annuals require to be sown in March or April, 

 on a gentle hotbed, or in a close frame without bottom-heat, 

 the latter mode succeeding perfectly unless the seeds are sown 

 too early in the season ; many of them may even be sown in 

 the open borders at the end of April or beginning of May, but 

 will not then flower so early. 



Tender Annuals, a very limited class, will also vegetate in a 

 close frame, but require more warmth to bring them to perfec- 

 tioji than the preceding; they should, after pricking out, be 

 transferred to a second hotbed, and will flower most satisfac- 

 torily in the greenhouse or window. 



Hardy Perennials may be sown in the open borders any time 

 from March to August, but will succeed with greater certainty 

 if raised in a close frame, with or without bottom-heat ; thus 

 treated, many will flower the first season, if sown early and 

 planted out in the borders in May. 



The amateur will do well to bear in mind that though some 

 perennial seeds vegetate as quickly as those of Annuals, there 

 are many others which usually remain dormant for weeks, or 

 even months ; to this class belong the Gentians, Cyclamens, 

 Paeonies, Fraxinella, many Australian Leguminosse, and especi- 

 ally North American plants. 



Half-hardy Perennials require the treatment of the Half- 

 hardy Annuals, differing only in their need of winter protection. 



Stove seeds need a moist, elevated temperature, such as the 

 stove or forcing-pit affords, and greenhouse seeds succeed well 

 under the same conditions ; in their absence, the latter are best 

 raised in a good hotbed. 



Biennials may be sown in the open ground in spring or 

 summer, not later than June and July, the seedlings being 

 planted in autumn where they are intended to bloom the fol- 

 lowing season. The half-hardy plants of this class, as Ipomop- 

 sis, should be pricked out in pots, that they may be protected 

 in winter. 



All seeds sown in frames or pits require shading with tiffany 

 or thin calico in bright weather during the middle of the day, 



