ANNUALS. 



1 



5 



ANNUALS. 



or by seeds, which it has ripened in 

 this country. 



Annuals. — Plants which live only 

 one summer ; and which, with refer- 

 ence to their culture in British gar- 

 dens, are either tender, half-hardy, or 

 hardy. Tender annuals are kept 

 during the whole period of their 

 growth under glass ; half-hardy an- 

 nuals are raised under glass, and after- 

 wards transplanted into the open gar- 

 den ; and hardy annuals are sown in 

 the open garden. 



Tender Annuals are sown in Fe- 

 bruary or March, in pots of light rich 

 earth, and placed in a hotbed ; and as 

 soon as the plants are come up, they 

 are transplanted into pots of the very 

 smallest size, one in each pot ; which 

 is called pricking them out. These 

 small pots are again set in the hotbed 

 as near the glass as possible, and 

 slightly shaded during sunshine. In 

 a week or two, when the roots have 

 made their appearance on the outside 

 of the ball of earth, which is known 

 by turning the plant out of the pot, 

 to examine the ball, and replacing it, 

 the plants are shifted into pots one 

 size larger ; and this shifting is conti- 

 nued from time to time, always into 

 pots, only a little larger than those the 

 plants were taken out of ; till at last 

 the plants are in pots six, eight, or 

 nine inches in diameter, according to 

 their nature, and the size to which it 

 is wished to grow them. In all the 

 shiftings, light rich mould must be 

 used to fill up the pots, and sufficient 

 drainage secured, by placing potsherds 

 in the bottom of each pot. In general, 

 the more frequently the plant is 

 shifted, the larger and more bushy it 

 will become before it flowers ; but 

 when once flower-buds have made 

 their appearance, no farther advan- 

 tage can be gained from shifting, the 

 growth of the plant being then ma- 

 ture. Some persons water tender 

 annuals with liquid manure, which is 



found to answer in the case of bal- 

 sams, coxcombs, and other strong 

 growing plants, but to injure more 

 tender growing kinds. The extraor- 

 dinary size that balsams and coxcombs 

 may be brought to by repeatedly shift- 

 ing them in this manner, is not only 

 gratifying in itself, but interesting and 

 instructive, as showing the effect of 

 art on plants. The balsam in a wild 

 state in the East Indies, is seldom 

 seen above a foot in height, with a 

 stem half an inch in diameter ; but in 

 British hothouses it has been grown 

 to the height of five feet, with a stem 

 as thick as a man's leg. We have 

 omitted to observe, that during the 

 whole process of shifting, the tempe- 

 rature in which the plants are kept 

 should be from sixty to seventy or 

 even eighty degrees during sunshine ; 

 and that they should be so abundantly 

 supplied with water, that the air 

 should be constantly charged with 

 moisture : but when the plants begin 

 to flower, they ought to be removed 

 to a dry airy situation, and the tem- 

 perature gradually lowered. The dry 

 air, and the lowering of the tempera- 

 ture, will not only increase the inten- 

 sity of the colours of the flowers and 

 leaves, but will prolong the duration 

 of the plant. 



Half-hardy Annuals may be 

 sown either in pots, or in a bed of 

 earth, on a slight hotbed, in February 

 or March ; and after they have come 

 up they may be pricked out into pots, 

 or into another slight hotbed, where 

 they may remain till the beginning 

 of May, when they should be trans- 

 planted into the beds or borders in the 

 open garden, where they are finally to 

 remain. In most cases, however, it is 

 not worth while to prick out the plants 

 in a second hotbed ; and sometimes 

 they may be sown in pots, and thinned 

 out to two or thiee plants in a pot ; 

 and when they have grown two or 

 three inches high, the bull of earth, 



