THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN - . 
179 
colours. In all cases the dwarfesfe sorts make the most 
complete and beautiful masses, and the tall ones are the most 
useful for cut-flowers. 
Balsam. —This noble flower requires the same general 
treatment as the aster, and is a few degrees more tender in 
constitution. As a bedding plant for any odd position it 
answers well, and may be dealt with in a rough-and-ready 
fashion. Prepare the ground by deep digging and libera) 
manuring, and sow the seed thinly about the 20th of May. 
Thin the plants to full two feet apart, help them with 
weak manure-water, and they will soon cover the bed and 
flower splendidly, unless the season happens to be unusually 
cold, in which case the bed of balsams will be a down¬ 
right failure. To grow fine balsams, sow on a hotbed the 
last week in March, and again in the last week of April. 
Warmth and moisture are most important aids in the culti¬ 
vation of the balsam, for it should grow fast from the first, 
and never suffer a check. Prick out the plants from the 
seed-pans when their seed-leaves are fully developed, putting 
them in light rich soil on a hotbed, the heat of which is never 
lower than 55° to 65° at night. Plant them so deep that their 
leaves almost touch the soil; sprinkle them frequently with 
water of the same temperature as the air of the frame, and 
ventilate carefully to promote a sturdy habit without checking 
the growth. Frequently lift and plant out or pot them in rich 
soil, so as to afford the roots more and more room, and keep them 
growing fast in a frame over a nearly spent hotbed until they 
become great bushes, when they may be allowed to flower. 
They may be grown to almost any size if the flower-buds are 
constantly picked off until the plants are as large as required. 
A few fine balsams in pots are of the greatest value to embel¬ 
lish the greenhouse and sitting-room in the height of summer, 
and in the process of producing them, the least promising 
plants will be found useful for planting out in beds and borders, 
but they must not be put out until Midsummer-day unless 
the season and the situation are both peculiarly favourable. 
The best varieties are the Bose-flowered and Camellia-flowered , 
but worthless seed is commonly sold under these names, and 
the only way to insure seed worth growing is to go to a house 
known to be trustworthy, and pay a good price for it. The 
more perfect a balsam is in form and colour the less productive 
will it be of seed, but trashy balsams will produce abundance, 
