ANNUAL FLOWERS FOR WINDOW-BOXES 85 



cultivation and their beautiful blossoms. The latter vary 

 greatly in form and color and are among the most gorgeous of 

 garden flowers. 



The commonest reason for failure with morning-glories is 

 due to the fact that the outer covering of the seed is very 

 hard. To insure germination a corner of the seed should be 

 notched with a file, that the moisture of the soil may have 

 access to the inside. It is well worth while thus to notch 

 the seed and then to place them between layers of wet blot- 

 ting-paper. As fast as the seeds become swollen, take them 

 out and plant them. 



Another flower which is extremely useful for in-door win- 

 dow-boxes is the Dwarf or French Marigold. These may 

 very easily be grown from seed sown in-doors and may be 

 planted quite thickly in window-boxes, where they will thrive 

 with very little attention and will soon begin to yield an 

 abundant show of attractive blossoms. 



In a fairly light room probably no annual will yield more 

 gratifying results in these boxes than sweet peas. For 

 planting in such a situation one should get the earliest vari- 

 eties, such as are sold by the seedsmen for very early blossom- 

 ing or for planting in greenhouses. One of the best of these 

 is the Earliest of All, which is a selection of the Extra Early 

 Blanche Ferry. These will come into blossom in about nine 

 weeks, and if the flowers are kept picked will yield an abun- 

 dance of blossoms for a long period. One can now get from 

 the best seed-houses varieties of sweet peas especially 

 adapted for growing in-doors. 



About the only difficulty to contend with in growing 

 annual plants in winter window-gardens is that of the pres- 

 ence of red spiders and aphides, or plant lice — often called 



