BOOK II. 



BORDER-FLOWERS. 



879 



HARDY ANNUAL BORDER- FLOWERS. JULY continued. 



6507 Propagation and culture of hardy annual flowers. They are all raised from seed, though occa- 

 sionally some fine varieties of cheiranthus, viola, &c. are preserved by cuttings. The seed is generally 

 sown in March or April, in patches or rings in the borders where the plants are to flower The ground 

 is previously stirred and made fine ; the patch is sown of a circular form of six or eight inches' diameter 

 or a row onlv is sown in the circumference of the circle, the seeds covered according to their size, and 

 the plants, when they are an inch high, thinned out to one, three, five, seven, or more, according to 

 their kind. This, and occasionally stirring the soil, with staking, &c. as in perennial flowers, is all the 

 culture they require Sometimes the whole, or many of the sorts, are sown in the reserve-garden, and 

 transplanted where they are finally to remain. This answers well for such sorts as the lupin, sunflower, 

 and sweetpea ; but is rather precarious with such early flowering and short-lived sorts as annual stocks, 

 candytuft, Venus's looking-glass, &c. , 



