116 
THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
the month of June by appropriating a large bed to delphi¬ 
niums and scarlet geraniums. Some time in the autumn 
plant the bed with D. formosum or D. Hendersoni in lines 
eighteen inches apart, putting the plants nine inches to a foot 
apart in the rows. In the month of May, when the weather 
is settled and safe for summer bedders, plant between the 
delphiniums in close lines large old plants of scarlet geraniums 
that were pretty closely cut down in the early days of March. 
If the work is well done, the blue and the scarlet flowers will 
appear together, and produce a distinct and striking effect. 
As the delphiniums go out of flower, the bed will present 
scarlet flowers only. To raise delphiniums from seed is an ex¬ 
tremely easy matter, but it requires much patience, for some 
of the sorts do not germinate for full twelve months after 
being sown. The seed should be sown as soon as ripe, and the 
pans should be kept in frames, and occasionally looked over, 
to remove weeds, which are sure to appear, and if allowed to 
grow will render useless all your labour. As all the members 
of this family are worth growing, the reader may select at 
random from a trade catalogue, but we select six which we 
consider most useful:— T >. belladonna , 2\ feet, azure blue; D. 
formosum , 3 feet, ultramarine blue; D. Hendersoni , 3 feet, 
ultramarine blue ; D. Hermann Stenger , 4 feet, blue and rose ; 
D. magnijicum , 4 feet, purplish or cobalt blue; D. Wheeleri , 
4 feet, bright blue. A few of the single kinds, and all the 
double ones, are sterile, and therefore can only be propagated 
by division or cuttings. To obtain the latter, cut down the 
plants in July, and in about a month afterwards they will 
bristle with tender shoots, which the cultivator must remove 
and make plants of. 
Dianthus (The Pink).—Under this head we shall speak of 
the Carnation, Picotee, Pink, Sweet-William, and a few of 
their allies. The alpine pinks we shall have but little to do 
with, for they are not border flowers, but the popular members 
of the family are of the utmost importance for their beauty, 
fragrance, and comparatively docile habit under cultivation. 
All these plants require a good soil and a sunny situation, but 
a very fair display may be secured even if the ground is partly 
shaded and the soil not of the best. The florists pay so much 
attention to these plants, and bring them at last to such high 
perfection, that those who are unschooled in the “ fancy ” are 
apt to fancy that to grow a few good flowers is an almost super- 
