FASHIONABLE FLOWERS 



wide, and to plant out the seedlings in April. But I shall 

 advise the home gardener that quite as good results are 

 obtained by sowing the seeds out of doors in late February 

 or quite early in March. The plants ought really to be 

 12 inches apart, but it would scarcely do to sow the 

 seeds at that distance, since some will not come up, 

 others may not, and some may not live to blossom. So 

 let the home gardener sow the seeds at 6 inches apart. 

 Then the alternate seedlings may either be pulled up or 

 left to grow, as the gardener thinks best. But I warn him 

 that the harvest of blossom will be finer from plants 

 that are left 12 inches apart. 



I am not going into full details about staking, training, 

 watering, protecting from birds, and so on, because the 

 veriest tyro knows such things are essential ; but attention 

 may perhaps with advantage be directed to one or two 

 points in connection with these matters. 



An easy way to keep the birds off is to syringe the 

 little plants with quassia solution. Perhaps the simplest 

 form, although the most expensive, is to obtain tubes 

 of quassia from the chemist, and to make a solution 

 according to the directions. The cheapest and most 

 laborious way is to buy quassia chips and soak i pound 

 in 2 gallons of cold water for a few hours, afterwards 

 bringing the water to boiling point. The solution is 

 then strained, and for use 6 gallons of water are added. 



Slugs are often a great nuisance, and one of the best 

 ways of lessening their ravages (for one can scarcely hope 



