SPRING FLOWERS. 



In the month of May, an incredible muhitude of little flower-pots — 

 known to the expert as " thumb-pots " — go forth from innumerable green- 

 houses and propagating-pits, and in the hands of amateurs, great and 

 small, are scattered broadcast through the land. Each pot contains a 

 verbena, a salvia, a geranium, a fuschia, or some other tender bedding-plant, 

 which, if the purchaser is skilful or fortunate, will give him, towards mid- 

 summer, an abundance of blossoms. Meanwhile, he must wait ; for, dur- 

 ing the spring and early summer, the " bedding-plants," with ordinary 

 management, will do very little for him. Now, it is the aim of this paper 

 to show how this season of expectancy, occurring at the very time when 

 the appetite for floral beauty is strongest, may be turned into a season of 

 fruition. 



Every one knows something of the early-blooming bulbs, — snowdrops, 

 crocus, narcissus, hyacinths, fritillarias, and others, the brilliant and beau- 

 tiful harbingers of summer. They cannot be too heartily commended to 

 the amateur gardener ; but their reign is short, and they will not, of them- 

 selves, supply his want. Their character and culture have been well 



