MODERN FLOWER-GARDENING. 
275 
unless it is reduced in width, which renders it 
less effective. 
Again, supposing such a bed to be quar- 
tered, and each portion devoted to one colour; 
this arrangement would be a very pretty one, 
and would admit of a still greater variety of 
colour than the preceding. 
A different effect would result from the 
planting three plants of each of three different 
subjects to form a centre of, as it were, three 
triangles, with the points turned outwards. 
Projecting inwards between these, the points 
of other angles, of different, but complementary 
colours, may be inserted, and if this did not 
fill out the bed, several distinct colours might 
alternate, to form a margin. It is useless to 
enumerate other examples, as they may be 
varied ad infinitum. 
The half-hardy plants usually employed for 
the decoi-ation of flower gardens on the 
grouping, or " bedding-out" system, require 
some care in their management. The general 
plan is to propagate them from cuttings during 
the latter part of the summer, to preserve them 
through the winter either in a greenhouse or 
in pits, secure against frosts and damps, and 
in spring, as the mild weather comes on, to 
harden them very gradually to bear full ex- 
posure to the ordinary atmosphere by the mid- 
dle or end of May, or at least as soon as the 
weather is sufficiently mild to render them 
safe when exposed. 
Young healthy plants are always to be pre- 
ferred for the flower garden before those which 
are older, and at the same time straggling 
and stunted, except in peculiar cases. Such 
plants as the verbenas should always be young, 
free, and vigorous, for plants in this condition 
are always the most ready to spread, and 
cover the surface quickly and effectually. It 
is the same with all the very free-growing 
subjects. Some plants, however, are the 
more effective for having attained some size 
and substance before planting. Of this nature 
is the whole race of scarlet and other pelar- 
goniums, though even here free-grown young 
plants are preferable to starved and stunted 
ones of greater age. 
Gne of the most material points towards 
success, especially as regards the effect to be 
produced during the earlier part of the sum- 
mer, lies in the due preparation of the plants, 
previous to their being planted out. The kind 
of preparation alluded to is called "harden- 
ing," which is, in fact, nothing more nor less 
than inuring the plants to bear exposure to 
our climate without protection. This must 
be a work of time. The plants are neces- 
sarily kept during winter and early spring in 
a more or less artificial climate, under more 
favourable conditions than our climate affords ; 
and if the amount of protection to which they 
have been accustomed is withdrawn at once 
the plants become paralysed, growth is ar- 
rested, nnd if the trial is too severe, ihey 
perish. Hence, with all that class of tender 
subjects which require nursing in spring, the 
process of hardening is essential previous to 
planting them out in the open air. 
The process of hardening is thus carried 
out : from a position in which a certain 
amount of heat is afforded to the plants, they 
are, when in an established condition as re- 
gards their roots, to be removed to another, 
in which there is little or no heat artificially 
afforded ; this depends on the amount of heat 
they had been previously subjected to ; if they 
had had but a slight degree of heat, the change 
may be to a position where there is none. 
In any case, however, it is judicious, on placing 
them in the cooler position, to keep them shut 
up closer than usual for two or three days ; 
then they may be opened, and exposed during 
the day to that degree which the weather each 
day will admit. In the coui-se of a couple of 
weeks, if the weather is favourable, a further 
stage is advanced by leaving the coverings, 
whether mats, sashes, or other covers, par- 
tially open or off during the night. The next 
stage is to remove them entirely day and 
night ; and in this case, as it is presumed that 
they are in a sheltered, situation, it becomes 
still a further change to plant them out in the 
exposed parts of the garden. All these pro- 
gressive changes should be made, as far as 
possible, at intervals when the weather is 
rather favourable than otherwise, if such a 
time can be taken advantage of; if not, they 
must be made with the greater caution. Of 
course, the final planting out can only be done 
when the weather has become settled favour- 
able for the growth of tender plants. 
When the plants are planted out, the 
course of treatment, which should have been 
commenced during their probationary period, 
must be carried on and perfected. That 
treatment consists in the frequent " stopping" 
or topping of the young shoots; the object 
being to secure a bushy, dwarf, and compact 
habit of growth. If this was commenced 
when the plants were first raised, they ought 
when planted out to have several branches, and 
these, previous to planting, may have been 
allowed to grow to the length oi' six or eight 
inches ; the object of this growth is to pro- 
duce shoots long enough to cover at once 
a certain portion of the surface. These 
branches, then, are to be spread out horizon- 
tally by means of little wooden pegs, or some 
substitute for them, and their points are then' 
to be nipped off. The young shoots produced 
are again, when long enough, to be fastened 
down, and again topped, and this is to be con- 
tinued until the suriace of the bed is covered, 
T 2 
