MIGKOtfETTE. 169 



plants occasionally, with warm water; the hotter the room 

 and the brighter the sun, the more rapidly the plants 

 grow, and the oftener will they need to be watered. Be- 

 fore the plants begin to crowd each other, pinch a few 

 of them off, so as to give those left room to grow. 



In the open ground the bed for Mignonette should be 

 prepared in the autumn; it should be carefully spaded, 

 and well manured, and worked over with a hoe and rake, 

 until it is quite fine and mellow. In the spring sow the 

 seed on this bed, as soon as the soil is dry and the weather 

 is warm. Unless the soil is a very light and sandy one, 

 you must be careful not to work it when it is wet. But 

 so soon as the soil is dry, hoe it three or four inches deep, 

 and rake it very fine, taking off all the stones and rub- 

 bish, or dig a hole in the beJ, and with a rake pull the 

 stones and rubbish into the hole, and cover them up 

 with fine soil. Mark the bed both ways, with a marker 

 nine or ten inches wide, and drop three or four seeds 

 where the lines cross each other, cover them, and if the 

 soil is dry, pat it with the back of the spade. The seed 

 is small, and must not be covered more than a quarter of 

 an inch deep; if the ground is moist enough, the less 

 covering the better. A tablespoonf ul of superphosphate 

 to each square yard of bed, scattered broadcast on the 

 surface, either before the seed is sown or afterwards, will 

 be very beneficial. 



As soon as the plants appear, hoe lightly between the 

 rows, and all around the plants; this will leave very lit- 

 tle weeding to be done. I recommend sowing three or 

 four or more seeds in a hill, because the plants will come 

 up better, and because we do not want any gaps. We do 

 not need, however, more than one good plant in a place, 

 and these should be far enough apart to admit the use of 

 a hoe. If preferred, the seed can be sown in drills from 

 eight to twelve inches apart, dropping two or three seeds 

 to each inch of row, afterwards thinning out the plants 

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