36 THE LADIES' FLOWEB-GARDE^f 
as it is for the advantage of the plants that the heat should decline gradually as they increase in size, that they 
may be the more fit for transplanting, when the season arrives for them to be removed to the open ground. 
The soil fob growing tender annuals. — The soil used for filling the pots in which tender annuals are 
sown, should be as rich as possible, and yet quite open in its texture : it should also be free from grubs and the 
eggs of insects. As soil of this description is not to be procured without some trouble, we shall give the following 
directions for preparing it, which have been kindly sent to us by the same excellent practical gardener to whom 
we were indebted for directions respecting the larkspurs. He says, that the best soU is turf, but as this is usually 
full of worms and the eggs of insects, it will require the following preparation : — " Take a spade deep of the 
surface of some good rich pasture ; or if only the turf two or three inches thick, so much the better. Lay this up 
in a ridge, eighteen inches wide at bottom, three feet high, and of whatever length may be required. Then take 
the fresh stable manure, which is to be used in making the hot-bed, before it has been turned over, and lay it all 
round the turf and over it, distributing it as equally as possible. If there is plenty of manure, in proportion to 
the quantity of turf, the turf may be easily heated to 200 degrees, which will not only destroy all the insects, &c., 
but all the roots and herbage, and moreover wonderfully enrich the soil, by the distillation of the gas evolving 
from the manure, during its fermentation. The manure must be turned over once or twice, while covering the 
turf, to prepare it for making the hot-bed ; and when it is ready, the ridge of turf must be removed to some shed, 
or airy place, to dry it, when it will be fit for use. This is the best possible soil for annuals ; but when put into 
the pots, it must be mixed with a little vegetable mould, (formed of dead leaves laid in a heap, and turned over 
from time to time till they rot into mould,) and sand. An old hot-bed, or decayed dung of any kind, is not good 
for tender plants, as it is apt to turn the whole soil sour, or soddened (at least if much watered). In the summer 
turf may be seasoned vrithout manure, by covering it with the short grass mown off the lawn, which will ferment; 
but this plan is very far inferior to the other, though it is superior to the old method of laying up the turf for a 
year or more before it was used. By the hot-dung process, it will be ready in ten days ; and not more should be 
prepared than will be wanted for one season's sowing and transplanting." D. B. 
Sowing and transplanting. — If the soil has been properly prepared, it will be found, when dry, though very 
rich, to be perfectly light and fine. The next step is, to fill the pots with it. These should be of a moderate 
size, and filled about an inch deep with rather small pieces of broken pots, or potsherds, as they are called. This 
is to ensure drainage, as, if the water be suffered to lodge, the soil will soon become black and sodden, and the 
seedlings will turn yellow, and drop off. As the pot is filled with earth it should be shaken, to make the earth 
settle, and then more earth put in ; as, if this is not done, the first watering vnll make the earth sink a con- 
siderable depth down the pot. The pots being properly filled, the next step is to procure the seed. Of choice 
and delicate sorts, it is always advisable, if possible, for ladies to save their own seed, and nothing can be more 
easily done. "When the seed is ripe, it only requires to be gathered, and put in little paper trays in some warm 
place to dry ; when dry, it should be freed from the seed pod, and put into little paper bags, or wrapped in paper 
with the names written upon it, and kept tUl wanted for use. If it is intended to keep for a year or two, it 
may remain in the pod ; but it is always best to sow the seed when it is quite fresh. No oily seed will keep 
well ; and the seeds of all tender annuals generally soon lose their vegetative powers. One of the great advan- 
tages of saving seed is, to know its exact age ; and to be able to judge from that, as to the probability of its 
coming up. Nothing is more provoking than, after all the trouble of sowing, &c., to be disappointed by the seeds 
