ii 7 



thing more to say at present about Asters, Pansies, Sweet 

 Peas or Nasturtiums, but believing these four flowers to 

 be the perfection of annuals, I cannot leave them without 

 urging every one to include them in their list of (lowers 

 to be planted in next summer's garden. Their cultiva- 

 tion is simple ; good soil, good seed and some care, which 

 will be amply repaid by flowers that can well be said 

 " To charm the fishes." 



Asters should be planted early in the spring in the 

 house, and set in the open ground in June, kept free from 

 weeds and watered in dry weather. Pansy plants, after 

 being set in the open ground, should have all buds picked 

 off until thoroughly established, and until the latter part 

 of August if large flowers are wanted. Sweet Peas 

 should be planted early and deep, all blossoms picked off 

 as soon as fully opened so they will not go to seed and 

 stop blooming. Nasturtiums, as soon as well up should 

 be thinned to not nearer than eighteen inches apart, but 

 must be planted thickly as the seed as a rule does not 

 germinate very well. These are the essential points, by 

 the neglect of which most of the failures occur in grow- 

 ing these annuals. For fuller cultural notes see Part I 

 in last season's transactions. I hope no one will think 

 that annuals are at all difficult to grow, because so many 

 little points should be borne in mind, as they are not ; it 

 is simply that the observance of these little minor matters 

 help us greatly if we wish to grow them to perfection. 

 I do not propose to devote much space to the cultivation 

 of the llowers that follow, unless their culture should 

 .differ in some essential point from the methods already 

 described. Let us now consider the single dahlia, grown 

 from seed, as an annual. 



SINGLE DAHLIA. 



Single dahlias have of late years become very popular 

 and deservedly so, as when cut with plenty of foliage 

 they are certainly very pretty. But the seed must be 

 started early in the house or greenhouse, that good large 



