44 THE FLOWER GARDEN COMPANION. 



come up, two extremes must be guarded against, namely: to 

 be very careful that the young plants are not injured by the 

 chill of night, or drawn too much by being confined ; the heat 

 of the bed and the external air must be the criterion to go by: 

 the internal air of the frame should be kept as near as pos- 

 sible to the moderate degree of fifty-five, by Fahrenheit's 

 scale. As the warm weather advances, the bed may have 

 more air by day and night, and be treated in every manner 

 so as to harden the plants as they grow in size ; and finally, 

 the lights may be left off night and day previous to the plants 

 being transplanted in the garden, which maybe done with 

 most kinds about the 1st of May, and the tender, the 20th 

 of May. But where annuals are wanted to be very early in 

 flower, they may be much forwarded by transplanting them 

 out from the seed bed into another frame, an inch or two 

 apart, and then transplanting them into the flower garden 

 when the weather is sufficiently warm. 



ART. 3. Sowing the Seed in the natural ground. 



The seed of annual flowers may be sown when the earth 

 will work well, which will be from the middle of April to the 

 beginning of May. This is the best time for sowing most 

 kinds, and if two or three sowings are made at different times, 

 the better success may be expected. 



Having the ground well dug, or broken up with a trowel, 

 in order that the seed may germinate freely, prepare to sow 

 the seed in the following manner. Make a small circle, with 

 a stick, in the form of an O, about eight or ten inches in dia- 

 meter, from a quarter to half an inch in depth ; the larger 

 kinds, as the Lupines, &c., require to be planted an inch in 

 depth ; some difference must also be made according to the 

 season and state of the weather, when the ground is dry, 

 late in the s&son, seeds should be sown deeper than in the 

 early part, when it is moist and mellow. Great care must be 

 taken to cover the seed very lightly with fine light earth, as 

 the young plants are often much injured in making their way 



