The Cultivation of Flowers 
167 
open ground. This is necessary so that they can reach 
their greatest perfection during the summer, when they 
are wanted to give a display in the flower beds, or to 
supply quantities of cut flowers of the highest quality for 
home decoration. 
If a small quantity only is required, the seed of any 
of these may be sown in pans or boxes, and placed on 
the shelf in a cool greenhouse, or in the frame on a gentle 
hotbed. If required in larger quantities, the soil may be 
made up and placed 4 to 6 in. deep on the top of the 
hotbed, and the seed sown directly in this, from February 
till the middle of April. The soil should be a nice root- 
ing medium, with no lumps in it to break the roots when 
they are being lifted for pricking out. A suitable soil 
may be made up of 4 parts sifted loam, 1 part leaf soil, 
j part of sifted, rotten, dry, cow or horse manure, with 
enough sand to keep the whole open. It should be just 
moist enough to drop to pieces after being pressed firmly 
in the hand. The pans or boxes should be well drained, 
and then filled up to within 1 in. of the top. The seed 
should be sown very thinly, and covered over (evenly) 
with not more than £ in. of soil. The latter details 
should apply equally to seeds sown in the frame. The 
boxes, pans, or frames should then be covered with paper 
or mats to keep the soil uniformly moist until ger- 
mination has taken place. If by any means the pans 
or boxes become dry before the seedlings appear, they 
should not be watered overhead, but a large receptacle 
should be filled with water, and the boxes or pans placed 
in this, so that the water can rise gradually to the roots. 
On no account should they get so dry that the soil will 
