March] FLOWER GARDEN. 299 



bed six indies thick; when warm, prick the plants therein at three 

 or four inches distant each way, or some may also be pricked in 

 small pots, one good plant in each, and plunged in the earth of the 

 bed; giving the whole a little sprinkling of water; then let the 

 glasses be put on, observing to raise them behind a little every day 

 to admit air and let out the steam; shade the plants from the sun 

 till they have taken fresh root. 



When they are rooted and begin to push, they should have fresh 

 air every day; therefore let the upper ends of the glasses be raised 

 an inch or two or three in height to admit it; but shut them down 

 towards the evening, and cover them every night with mats; 

 remember to sprinkle them with water occasionally, giving but a 

 little at each time. 



Keep up the heat of the bed by occasionally lining with hot dung. 

 Thus these tender annuals are to be continued forwarding in growth 

 till May; then, when the frost is totally gone, finally transplanted 

 into large pots, flower borders, &c. 



Sowing tender Annuals. 



A hot-bed may be made the beginning or any time this month, 

 in which to sow the seeds of tender annual flowers, such as the 

 ice plant, sensitive plant, browallias, &c. 



Make the bed and sow the seed as directed in last month. Or a 

 few plants may be raised in pots in any cucumber or melon hot-bed 

 now in cultivation, to a proper size for transplanting. See April. 



The plants raised from the above sowings will blow strong and 

 beautiful in May, June, July, &c. 



Remember they are not to remain in the hot-bed where raised, 

 but are to be transplanted, some into pots, and some into the bor- 

 ders. See Jlpril and May. 



Sowing hardy Annual Flowers. 



Any time this month that the ground is in good condition, you 

 may sow in the borders and other flower compartments, a variety ot 

 hardy annuals, such as large and dwarf annual sunflowers, sweet 

 pea of every kind, larkspur, flos-adonis, persicaria, Tangier peas, 

 Nigilla, Venus's looking-glass, Venus's navelwort, double dwarf 

 poppy, Lobel's catchfly, dwarf-lychnis, snails, horns, hedgehogs, 

 caterpillars, mignonette, china-aster, horse-shoes, belvidere, candy- 

 tuft, honey-wort, convolvulus-minor, cyanus, china-hollyhock lava- 

 tera, curled mallow, winged pea, china pink, ten weeks stock, and 

 many other sorts, which will flower better if sown early than if 

 delayed to a late period; though all of the above will succeed 

 very well if sown in the beginning of next month. 



These should be sown, each kind separate, in patches in the dif- 

 ferent borders and flower beds, &c. finally to remain where sown; 

 or a few, when grown to a sufficient size, may be carefully trans- 

 planted into such borders and places as you desire. For the me- 

 thod of sowing them, see page 158. 



