HINTS TO AMATEURS. 
187 
of greenhouse plants, and, I may add, hardy herbaceous plants, 
together with some of the stronger constituted annuals, are 
much safer in the ground, than in the drawers of the seed 
cabinet. Among annuals for ornamenting the greenhouse, either 
in winter or early spring, Schizanthus, Portulacca, Primulas, 
&c. may be mentioned as belonging to the latter class, and 
which should be sown directly, and protected through the 
winter in frames or the house; others that will blow all through 
the dull weather are such plants as Nemophila, Clarkia,Viscaria, 
Erysimum, Lupinus nanus, Mignonette, and a few others ; these 
also should be sown, and potted off as soon as they can be 
handled, and will afford a pretty display for a long period: with 
respect to imported seeds, their arrival now becoming of com¬ 
mon occurrence, it is always best to sow them as soon as they 
arrive, unless it be in the very dead of winter. Some growers 
sow their auricula and tulip seed this month : from this practice, 
however, 1 differ, because the Auricula will speedily come up, 
but will not attain sufficient size before the winter, when the 
frosts frequently raise them out of the soil, and thus leave them 
exposed to the wasting influence of the winter’s wind, besides 
the great injury inflicted on the yet delicate roots. Tulips, on 
the other hand, seldom vegetate before the spring, and this 
gives the mice a fine chance to shell all your best seed. 
Plants for forcing require some examination just now, that 
they may be in a proper condition to begin with, when the 
season arrives. Bulbous roots, such as hyacinths, tulips, &c. 
intended for the same purpose, and which it is desired to have 
in bloom at an early period, should be potted immediately, 
and in connection with so much potting and sowing, it is ne¬ 
cessary above all things that the various soils required for 
composts be in their respective places, which should be always 
under cover, or they cannot be used in the manner most proper 
when wanted in a hurry. 
If alterations of any kind are contemplated, a definite idea of 
their extent and nature should be come to at once, or it will 
become more difficult to determine every week, as I hold it to 
be next to impossible to form a correct estimate of effect, when 
the surrounding vegetation is entirely denuded of foliage: work 
of this kind, requiring forethought, should always be decided on 
in good time, and observation made of its probable appearance 
before it is put in hand ; this often affords an opportunity of 
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