216 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



self-sown, get none at all. Those seeds which are 

 almost invisible may be laid on a smooth bed and 

 merely sprinkled with dust after the manner of pow- 

 dering hair. A common garden basket, with a few 

 handfuls of loose earth, answers well for sifting over 

 the seeds a dust as fine as themselves. There can 

 be no doubt that many beauties are lost by coarse 

 hands that make their bed a grave. The lightest 

 powdering is to the amaranth as much as a plough- 

 furrow is to the bean. To mark the seedbed and 

 save it from the hoe, it is usual to adopt the spell of 

 drawing a circle around it ; others sow in a ring, on 

 the principle of the argand lamp, admitting air into 

 the centre, and causing the flowers to burn with a 

 clearer light. 



The following less hardy annuals, whether for 

 beauty or curious growth, are worthy of the help 

 which they require in a small hotbed frame; namely, 

 the marigolds, African and French; amaranths, or 

 love-lies-bleeding and prince's-feather; all. of which 

 are of uncertain growth in ordinary seasons; balsums, 

 of many varieties; tricolor-chrysanthemum; Indian 

 corn ; some of the huge gourd family ; the tobacco 

 plant; stockgillyflower, for an early blow; to which 

 may be added many others according to fancy or 

 convenience. 



