180 
SELECT ANNUAL FLOWERS. 
lierly and perhnps hastily set aside by Mr. brought from California by Mr. Hartweg in 
Bentham, as being " only calculated to mis- j 1848, who found it growing in swampy places 
lead." It would certainly at least appear, that ; in the Valley of the Sacramento. 
in the dry warm climate of California the It is a hardy annual, requiring the same 
plant was much prettier than it has yet been j treatment as other Calif brnian annuals. " Sown 
seen in England. in the autumn, it flowers in May ; sown in the 
It is said to have been raised from seeds spring, it flowers during the summer." 
SELECT ANNUAL FLOWERS. 
The seed-sowing season is a busy one, and 
especially for the amateur, who is perhaps not 
perfectly familiar with the little peculiarities 
of the plants towards which he is just about 
to perform the first act of culture. 
As respects annual flowers, the popular no- 
tions perhaps assist to increase the perplexity 
of the uninitiated. Many popular notions 
are popular delusions ; and so, it must be con- 
fessed, are the names and titles bestowed on 
the diiFerent classes into which custom has 
divided annuals. We hear talk of hardy an- 
nuals, of half-hardy annuals, and of tender 
annuals ; but when we look at the plants to 
which these terms are i-espectively and by 
common consent applied, it must be admitted, 
that there is confusion somewhere, and that 
the rule by which the hardiness of the plants 
is estimated — whatever that rule may be : for 
it does not seem to be very apparent — is arbi- 
trary and unsound. 
We are not now about to settle this ques- 
tion, to which allusion has properly been made, 
but our object is to introduce a description of 
.some of the best annuals that are grown, in 
order to facilitate selection. We shall say no- 
thing about the hardiness of the several 
plants enumerated, further than this, that all 
which occur in this list may be managed in 
this respect according to the plan of which 
a sketch follows. 
The seeds may be sown in the open ground, 
either in patches for transplantation, or in the 
places where they are to bloom, according to 
the habit of each kind. The ground should 
be light, and well wrought, so as to be made 
fine, that it may lie close about the seeds. 
The first sowing may be made in March, and 
after that, successional sowings may be made 
every month up to July ; that is, if such a 
succession of plants and flowers is required. 
Those sown in July will bloom late in the 
autumn. An intermediate course is to sow 
in March, May, and July. In arranging 
them, due consideration must be paid to the 
heights attained by the different kinds, so that 
the taller ones may be ranged behind those of 
dwarfer stature. Where this is not, properly 
attended to, the flower border must of neces- 
sity become very confused and disorderly. If 
the plants are sown where they are to flower, 
the patches must be thinned, and this should 
be done as soon as ever the young plants have 
any appearance of closeness, or of crowding 
each other. The best mode of sowing is so 
that the seeds make a ring, not less than six 
inches in diametei', the seeds being wholly 
conflned to the circumference. Never sow 
the seeds too thick : remember that three 
plants of the larger branching subjects, six 
of those of moderate size, and a dozen of 
those small plants that grow upright and 
close, and require therefore to be in tufts, 
are quite sufficient j this number will grow 
stronger, be more healthy, arid produce a 
better display of flowers, than many more 
would do, because the larger quantity would 
be much more crowded. Take care therefoi-e 
to thin well, and to thin early. Such plants 
as from their habit require any artificial sup- 
port should have it supplied to them in time, 
before they actually need it. Delayed atten- 
tions of this kind not unfrequently come too 
late. 
To have these annuals in early bloom, you 
may accelerate them. Sow them in the be- 
ginning of March, on a gentle hot-bed, either 
in pots or boxes, or on a bed of soil. They 
must in either case be transplanted when they 
have formed a pair of leaves beside the seed- 
lobes, and may be put either two, three, or more 
in a pot, ready to turn out in ready-made 
patches, or two or three inches asunder on " 
another bed of soil, in either case having a 
further but very slight degree of bottom 
heat supplied to them. By this plan the plants 
may be pushed forward so as to be had in 
bloom a month earlier than those sown at the 
same time out of doors. They must be 
covered at night up to the end of April or 
later, the time of leaving off covering being 
entirely dependent on the weather. If they 
are pricked out on beds to be again trans- 
planted, they will have become rather large 
by the time the weather will admit of risking 
them fully exposed ; and in this case, they 
must be got up carefully with a good ball of 
earth about their roots, and well watered ; the 
transplantation, too, is better done towards 
evening, or in dull showery weather. 
The following is a selection of forty from 
among the best annual flowers at present 
grown. We do not offer them as the best, 
because individual tastes often differ in esti- 
