Seeds 53 
ground where the plants are to remain. One bed is for pink 
flowers shading into red, the other blue, and the tender varie- 
ties of each color are grouped together in a small space. If the 
weather is warm I let the beds alone, allowing the seeds to 
take their time to germinate, and I water them very little, 
which forces them to root deeper. If the weather turns cold 
or a frost is impending, and especially after the seeds have 
come up, I cover the beds temporarily with a double thickness 
of cheese cloth, and the more tender plants with the storm 
windows of the house. In this way I have brought my plants 
through killing frosts, and they have the advantage of hardy 
open-air growth, and deep roots that withstand prolonged 
droughts. Many annuals that are recommended to be started 
early in gentle heat, bloom under this treatment in July and 
the first week of August, which is as early as they are ever se- 
cured according to the catalogues. Seeds should be sown 
thinly, and even then they will probably require further thin- 
ning out, and may be transplanted elsewhere to cover vacan- 
cies made by the departure of early perennials. Transplant 
them early so that they may become established before hot 
weather. This method involves almost no care and very 
little watering; for one does not go over little tracts in many 
beds; and, placed at the entrance of the garden, the annuals 
make a conspicuous showing during the trying months of 
July and August. I get my plants so early that the seeds of 
the first heads of any variety have time to mature and drop, 
and thereby I secure a quantity of self-sown plants of the most 
vigorous growth the following spring. I shall never return to 
the troublous, difficult problem of a hotbed for annuals. 
Nor do I find it any advantage for raising perennials in my 
latitude, while the disadvantages are many. After I got out 
my first consignment of annuals I was so happy in the success, 
that by the middle of June I planted the bed full of perennial 
