1 64 GARDENING BY M YSELF. 



bloom well in the house ; and the little self- 

 sown seedlings of these that spring up here 

 and there in the beds, make extremely nice 

 plants, if taken up and potted before they 

 get too large. Turn back the edges of your 

 tufts of ageratum, and you will find a thrifty 

 set of young ones, — easy to transplant, and 

 sure to grow. So with sweet alyssum, and 

 candytuft, and pinks ; but mignonnette does 

 not like handhng, and generally grows best 

 if sown directly in the pot. Portulaccas 

 may be taken up just before frost, the large 

 plants ; and if carefully potted will blossom 

 in the house for months. Make cuttings of 

 any favorite petunias and verbenas, and also 

 of geraniums : the newly-rooted plants will 

 give more leafage and better chance of 

 house-flowers, than the old. 



Foremost among winter flowers, for beau- 

 ty and brilliancy and certainty of success, 

 stand the bulbs ; and yet they are very little 

 grown by people in general. Florists have 

 them in plenty, and great private green- 

 houses have them, a few ; but the small pri- 



