34 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 
labelling each variety with the names of the seed and pollen 
parents. After three or four weeks, they will be fairly dry, 
and the seeds should be removed from the capsules (or 
seed-pods), as they keep better if made up into packets 
and placed in a drawer in a dry room. 
The best time to sow the seed is in March or April; 
it germinates best in a slight bottom heat, in a house 
with an atmospheric temperature of, say, 55°. The seed- 
lings generally appear under such conditions within seven 
days. They should be pricked out into boxes, putting the 
little plants at 3 inches apart, and they may be planted 
in the open ground any time after the middle of May, 
provided they have been properly hardened to the open 
air. Any good, deep garden soil will be suitable for them. 
They require to be set out at 18 inches apart each way, 
as the plants are capable of making specimens of con- 
siderable size. I have counted over four hundred flowers 
and buds on one plant. I ought to repeat that it is not 
worth while trying to raise seedlings unless the seed has 
been saved from the best varieties obtainable. At the same 
time, amateurs who do not raise seedlings cannot have the 
pleasure that belongs to those who have new varieties con- 
tinually opening into flower ; for surely there will be some 
prizes amongst them ! 
I know one amateur who bought a half-crown packet 
of seed, and raised from it some beautiful varieties—one 
of them he sold for twenty guineas, 
