190 
THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
will their flowers be; for late-sown seeds are hurried into 
flower by the heat of the sun before a fair sized plant has been 
formed, and the bloom is rich or poor in proportion to the 
strength or weakness of the plant that produces it. There need 
be little fear of cold weather destroying early-sown seeds, for 
we find that seeds of all kinds, including many of the most 
tender plants, remain dormant and unhurt all the winter, and 
indeed until the season has advanced sufficiently for their safe 
emergence, and then they grow with their proper vigour and 
the resultant plants not seldom surpass those that have been 
nursed under glass with tender care. There is, however, this 
risk in early sowing, that warm weather may promote germina¬ 
tion and cold weather may follow and kill the plants. After 
making a fair balance, we conclude to advise the practice of 
sowing early, the advantage on the average being so great as 
to render the necessary risk a matter of comparatively small 
consequence. 
From the first appearance of the young plants, thinning 
and weeding must be regularly performed. The ground may 
be occasionally chopped over with the hoe to keep the surface 
open to sun and shower, but excessively careful raking, in¬ 
tended to make the surface as fine as snuff, is to be avoided 
as a waste of labour for a bad result, and watering is to be 
avoided too, unless the soil is poor, and the weather unusually 
hot and dry, in which case a plentiful supply will help the 
plants greatly. 
Some annuals, as the sweet pea for example, may be sup¬ 
plied with light stakes for support, and others, as the annual 
chrysanthemums and scarlet flax, may be neatly trained to 
light stakes. But all may be grown without artificial support, 
and wherever it can be dispensed with, we should save the 
time, and obtain a more pleasing display, than by the most 
careful staking. This dictum must be taken cum grctno. We 
are no advocates for slovenly gardening, but for promoting 
the highest development of everything taken in hand, and 
allowing each plant to express its character with as little 
interference as possible. Even sweet peas, rapid climbers as 
they are, may be allowed to trail over a sunny knoll without 
a stick to help them, and, if they have but room enough, will 
make a beautiful rustic sheeting of healthy leafage and bril¬ 
liant flowers. 
In the display of annuals there is the same room for the 
