ON REARING FLOWERS. 



149 



chosen for performing this operation. The plants should 

 be taken up carefully from the bed with a small three- 

 pronged fork, taking care not to injure their roots ; and 

 those with long tapering roots should have the points of 

 their roots cut off in the same manner as has been before 

 recommended for cabbage, but on no account should the 

 small fibrous roots be shortened or injured. They should 

 be planted in clusters of three, at three, four, or six inches 

 apart, according to their size; and the more tender sorts 

 should be covered each evening with an inverted flower-pot 

 till they become established. They should also be slightly 

 shaded during the heat of the day, if they evince any signs 

 of drooping, by sticking a few laurel or other green 

 branches in the ground on the south side of the plants. 

 Water must be constantly supplied to them if the v/ea- 

 ther be not showery, and it should be given in the morn- 

 ing of each day, taking care never to wet the leaves. As 

 they are very liable to be attacked by slugs and snails, per- 

 haps it is safer to plant rather more thickly, and put five 

 or six plants in a group. Where there is sufficient space, 

 larger patches of annuals, by presenting a broader mass 

 of one colour, are most desirable, and the plants support 

 each other better. A. small bed, filled entirely with one 

 sort, or a larger one with concentric circles, of different 

 sorts, the colours being well harmonised, will have an 

 exceedingly good and gay effect. 



To ensure a succession of flowers, other sowings may be 

 made in April, May, and June, and treated precisely in 

 the same manner. Annual plants require to be planted in 

 a very exposed situation, for, as an abundance of fine and 

 showy flowers is most desired, these will never be pro- 

 duced except they are afforded a sufficient degree of solar 

 light. They should, for the same reason, never be planted 

 in a rich soil, which would cause them to produce shoots 

 and foliage rather than flowers, and some of them, such 

 as (Enotheras, require to be planted in a very poor soil. 

 Timely and judicious staking is of first importance, and 

 we need only refer the reader to the remarks on this 

 subject under the head of perennials, where the manner 

 of performing the operation is fully detailed. As with 

 biennials, where the seed of any particular plant or clump 



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