50 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
matted, for the next twenty-four hours, after 
which they may have air in mild weather, hut 
he kept close in hard frosty or cold windy 
weather : from this time forward they must 
have no check. It is impossible to check a 
florist's flower from the time it begins to grow 
for blooming, without actually spoiling the 
form. If all your plants appear too forward 
for the day of show, it is better to let them 
take their chance than to throw them back by 
any check, for they rarely, if ever, bloom flat, 
or large, or finely, after anything like a de- 
cided check. 
Pansies, in beds, should have litter over 
them to protect them against hard weather ; 
and when the ground is rotten with frost, or 
full of worm casts, or when the frost has dis- 
turbed the roots, the plants should be pressed 
into their places, and a top-dressing of decayed 
cow-dung, or leaf-mould, may be given to 
them, at least some of it laid round each 
plant, if not all over the bed. A sharp exa- 
mination for slugs is desirable ; one of these 
destructive vermin could spoil many choice 
plants in a short time. Pansies in pots, 
under glass, should be shifted into larger 
sizes, or planted out in beds ; for as this is 
the period for them to begin growing, they 
will weaken themselves if confined in small 
pots, and bloom out of character. In forming 
beds, the plants should be put out six inches 
apart, in rich mould, where they would have 
all the benefit of sun and air. After they are 
planted out, some rough litter should be spread 
over them the first few days, as well to protect 
them from sun and wind, as from frost also. 
Pink beds may still be made, though 
autumn is far the best time. The compost 
can hardly be too rich for them. They ought 
to be six inches apart. Beds already made 
may be top-dressed with cow-dung in a decayed 
state, or for want of that, the mould formed 
of rotted dung from a melon bed or cucumber 
frame. They should be pressed into their 
places if disturbed by frost ; and like all other 
small plants, whether hardy or not, they are 
the better for litter of some kind. It does 
not take away the light altogether nor the 
air, yet it breaks ofi" stormy winds (which 
often snap these things and Pansies off quite 
short), and also prevents the violence of heavy 
rains from disturbing the plants. 
Carnations and Piccotees require nothing 
more at present than being kept clean, dry, 
and cool ; but it is time to prepare the compost 
for potting them, and procure the pots, which 
should be size sixteen, or size twelve. We prefer 
size twelve, although they cost a trifle more, 
and take more room. The compost must be 
clean, strong, rich, and light. For this, take 
clean hazel loam — the rotted turfs from a pas- 
ture is the very best stuff— say a barrowful of 
this, half a barrowful of cow-dung, and half 
of road-sand, where the road is gravel. Or if 
you have clean loam not so rich, with the 
turfs, take a barrowful of loam, a barrowful 
of leaf-mould, a barrowful of cow-dung 
rotted, and a barrowful of road sand ; let 
these all lie together and be chopped about 
pretty often between this and potting-time. 
As to the pots, see that they are clean, and 
freed from snails and other visitors which often 
take up their winter quarters in garden pots. 
Polyanthuses and Primroses. — Many 
grow these in pots. It is not a good plan ; 
grow them in a well-drained border of strong 
rich loam and dung, where slugs are well kept 
under by lime boundaries, and constant watch- 
ing ; for where these things are allowed to 
exist at all, there is no hope of either Primrose 
or Polyanthus; for they seem actually to poison 
what they cannot destroy. However, there 
may be a further cause for this. The want of 
drainage causes damp and disease ; it also causes 
a vast increase of slugs ; it may be that the 
damp both encouraged the vermin and poisoned 
the plants, where we have seen them so bad. 
This month they may be cleared of dead leaves 
and top-dressed, the surface being stirred a 
little, so that the dressing may be washed 
down easier with the rains. If any have been 
kept in pots, they should be top-dressed, like 
Auriculas, and set growing. 
Tender Annuals may be sown in a hot- 
bed for cultivation in pots until they are 
turned out in the borders ; and hardy annuals 
may be sown towards the end of the month in 
places where they are to bloom. Those who 
wish to shine in early Balsams, Cockscombs, 
and other subjects bloomed singly in pots, 
begin this month, though they have later 
sowings. These subjects are sown in pots in 
the hot-bed, and as soon as they are up are 
pricked out singly into sixty sized pots, and 
shifted from time to time into larger sizes as 
they fill the smaller ones with roots. Mignio- 
nette, ten-week Stocks, and Asters, may be 
sown among other things, to forward them for 
the borders and beds. 
Anemones are planted at the same time and 
in the same way as Ranunculuses ; single ones 
are, however, planted like common Ranuncu- 
luses in the autumn, and are nearly all the 
winter blooming, rarely protected by anything 
but leaves of trees or light litter. These are 
seldom disturbed more than once in three 
years. The double choice ones, however, 
should be treated in every way like the best 
Ranunculuses. 
SweetWilliams, Wallflowers, Rockets, 
Canterbury Bells, and very hardy herbaceous 
plants, may be removed into the places they 
are to bloom in. Borders in which bulbs are 
growing must not be disturbed, as there would 
