FLOWER SEEDS. 
We give special attention to our Flower Seeds and aim to handle only 
the best strains to be procured, both of home and foreign growth. We do 
not offer a long list of varieties, but only the best and most generally known, 
and those we know are test suited to the amateur. We offer no seeds of 
inferior quality, at cheap prices, nor do we give any premiums, preferring 
to give the value in the best seeds procurable at honest prices. Many of the 
varieties are of our own growing and most careful selection, while others 
are from specialists in this and foreign countries. 
GENERAL RULES. 
Many of the failures with Flower Seeds are due to the lack of proper 
conditions, such as sowing too deep, too early, too late, in improperly 
prepared soil, etc., and while it would be impossible to give explicit directions 
in our limited space, we give a few general directions, which, if followed, 
will give only good result. For all seeds which should be started early in 
the house, such as Carnation Marguerite, Cockscomb, Coleus, Canna, Helio- 
trope, Petunia, Verbena, &e., the best plan is to sow in shallow boxes, pans 
or anything of convenient size and having good drainage. These should 
be filled about half their depth with broken crockery, coal ashes, or any ma- 
terial which will allow the water to drain away freely. The upper half 
should be filled with nicely sifted soil composed of about one-third sand, 
one third leaf mold or well-rotted manure, and one third good garden soil. 
Press the soil down level and firm and water thoroughly several hours be- 
fore sowing the seeds. When ready scatter the seeds thinly over the sur- 
face and cover them with finely sifted soil to a depth of about four times 
the diameter of the seeds. This means with very fine seed such as Petunia, 
a covering of about one-thirty-second of an inch, while with such large seed 
as Canna, a covering of nearly an inch would be necessary. After covering, 
firm the soil again and water just enough to reach the seeds. The best plan 
in watering is to place the box or pan in a larger vessel containing water 
enough to reach about half the depth of the box, and leave until the soil 
is saturated; the box can then be covered with a pane of glass or papers to 
hold the moisture. When the seedlings appear all shading must be removed 
and they must now have plenty of light and air. The soil at no time must 
become dry, as this is the most critical time, and any lack of attention at 
this time may mean an entire failure. When the seedlings are large enough 
to handle they should be transplanted i-.to similar boxes or small pots and 
kept in a light, airy situation until time to plant out in the open ground. 
For all hardy annuals such as Alyssum, Candytuft, Mignonette, Poppies, 
etc., the simplest plan is to sow the seeds directly in the open ground. 
When the soil is in good working condition, it should be well dug and the 
surface raked fine. Sow the seeds evenly and thinly, preferably in rows, so 
that they may more easily be kept clean. The same directions for cover 
ing the seeds should be followed as described above. When the seedlings 
are about an inch high they should be thinned out, giving each plant 
plenty of room to grow. 
