gS GARDENING BY M YSELF. 



bloom. Come upon the fuchsias suddenly, 

 and let your tall perennial phloxes make a 

 prospect in the distance. Chrysanthemums 

 look best scattered, for at their time of glory 

 they have the field almost alone ; and the 

 gladiolus and tuberose stems should lift 

 themselves here and there in solitary beau- 

 ty above the throng. So / think, — though 

 gardeners say *' three in a place" and '' five 

 in a place." Geraniums and verbenas may 

 go anywhere and everywhere. But one 

 likes to lose zinnias, and come upon balsams, 

 and see cockscombs for a change. 



In setting out little plants at this season, 

 if the weather is very hot and dry, it is a 

 good way to lay them — root and branch — ■ 

 in a pan of water, and so plant them all 

 dripping out of that. Water gently and 

 repeatedly then, rather than very. much at 

 once, and shade at noonday with cones of 

 newspaper, or flower-pots, or bits of board 

 and shingle, or a cabbage leaf on a stick. 

 Flower-pot shelters should be raised a little 

 at one edge, — the rest are airy enough. 



