HINTS TO AMATEURS. 
155 
flowers may be had in the dullest part of the year, from Christ¬ 
mas up to March or April. 
There are several others, also, that are properly treated as 
greenhouse plants, which are raised from seeds, either for the 
purpose of increase, or with a view to obtaining new varieties : 
these are all better to be sown in the autumn. With such 
plants as the Pelargonium, a whole season is usually lost if the 
sowing is deferred till the spring. Fuchsias, Cinerarias, Cal¬ 
ceolarias, and a host of others, will bloom the following season 
if sown early in autumn: but if continued in their papers till the 
spring, it is frequently necessary to keep them over the follow¬ 
ing winter before the blossoms are produced. One of the plants 
most particularly benefitted by this treatment is the Schi- 
zanthus. This attains a luxuriance seldom seen if sown before 
the winter and the plants are kept in a light airy place. It may, 
perhaps, be urged as an objection that, by this method, much 
space would be required in the greenhouse at a time when it 
can be least spared; but, on the other hand, it is not always 
necessary to pot off the whole of the plants : if the seed be sown 
in wide pans, many of them may remain in them till the spring, 
and thus occupy but little room. In sowing these, and other 
biennial seeds of a similar character, a light and tolerably rich 
soil should be used : leaf-mould may form the basis of the com¬ 
post for all kinds of seeds, excepting Cape and New Holland 
kinds; for these peat should be given, always observing to 
lighten the mixture, be it what it may, with about a third of the 
whole of silver sand. It is also most important that the seeds 
are but slightly covered : in order to avoid burying them too 
deeply the surface of the soil should be pressed flat, the seed 
then strewed evenly over it, and covered, certainly not thicker 
than a sixpence. The after-management consists in keeping 
them moderately moist; and they will be the better if potted 
singly before the winter: but, as I before observed, if space 
cannot be afforded them, they may remain until the end of 
February. I should have remarked before, these kinds should 
be sown as soon as ripe. 
A Gardener. 
