THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
191 
exercise of taste as in the display of any other kinds of 
flowers. The amateur may desire to have great variety, or 
may prefer a few of the very finest sorts, and repeat them 
again and again to produce a rich effect. In a garden fre¬ 
quented by a few interested observers, the first plan might 
afford the most continuous and changing pleasure : in a garden 
frequented by many, where plenty of colour is generally a 
matter of first importance, the second plan would be the 
best. 
The simple system thus far sketched out is the best for 
general purposes, but for special purposes other plans may be 
adopted. Thus we may sow all kinds of hardy annuals in 
August, and a large proportion of them will germinate at 
once, and make strong plants before winter, and bloom earlier 
and stronger than those sown in spring. In this case a some¬ 
what poor and dry soil should be chosen, but really it matters 
very little if the soil is cold and damp, for do we not see on 
the worst of soils, and on the best alike, self-sown wallflowers, 
mignonette, sweet peas, candytufts, and many other things 
that have managed their own affairs in their own way, the 
seeds having been shed in July, germinated in August, become 
little green bushes by Christmas, and bonny flowering plants 
in the month of May. In one part of our garden mignonette 
is an established weed, and we have every year to thin out 
the self-sown plants to six inches apart, or they would crowd 
each other to death. The common wallflower haunts us in 
the same manner, and we have to destroy hundreds every year 
where this takes place. The soil is damp and cold, the aspect 
north-east, and the bleakest anywhere within half-a-dozen 
miles of the Bank of England, and the border is heavily shaded 
by large trees. To sow annuals in] autumn cannot, therefore, 
be so mad a procedure as some people profess to regard it; 
but perhaps they do so regard it because when they have 
tried the experiment they have been too late , and the 
miserable rains of October have caught their poor plants 
just coming up, and have killed them clean off, as a silent 
and bitter reproach for pretending to follow the book when 
proceeding dead against its advices. We name the month of 
August for sowing annuals to stand the winter, but in the 
north July will be none too soon, whereas everywhere June 
would be too soon, because June sown annuals will, if they 
can (this is, yon know, weather permitting) flower nicely in 
