January 1, 1909 
Annuals and Biennals. 
By J. Cronin, in Victorian “ Journal of 
Agriculture. ” 
Annuals are plants that develop from 
seeds, mature their growth, blossom, pro- 
duce seeds, and die within _one year, 
Biennials differ from annuals in that two 
years are required for the cycle from seeds 
sown to seeds saved from the resultant 
plants, maturing 6 eir growth in the 
first year, and flowering, producing their 
seeds, and dying in the second. ; 
A number of plants that are perennial 
in habit of growth are classed as annuals 
by gardeners, and treated as such on 
account of ease of culture, as well as in- 
crease of vigour, in the young seedling 
plant as compared with the growth pro- 
duced by the perennial after a bebilitating 
season of growth and bloom. It is much 
easier and more profitable to raise pansies 
Iceland poppies, and other plants that 
are true perennials from seeds each season 
than to save them during a hot and dry 
summer. Anuuals are classfied as hardy 
or half hardy. according to their powers 
of resistance to frost and adverse weather 
conditions geuerally. Many kinds are 
are native to tropical or semi tropical 
regions and while they are damaged or 
destroyed by the ordinary winter con— 
ditions obtaining in the greater part of 
Victoria will endure considerable heat 
and sunshine, if supplied with suflicient 
moisture. F : 
There is a decided and merited increase 
latterly in the culture of many of the 
most popular annual and biennial plants, 
their presence in most gardens, when well 
grown, insuring 2 display of bright or 
sweetly perfume? flowers during the 
greater part of the warm season of the 
year, when the more perinanent occu- 
pants are devoid of blooms. In response 
to the demand that has »risen for young 
plants for transplanting, nurserymen in 
. various parts of the States have devoted 
considerable space and time to the raising 
of the most popular lines, and a trade. in 
annuals, &e , has beep built up in recent 
years that returns @ large revenue to 
those engaged in it. This trade has been 
facilitated by the excellent pareel post 
arranzements, it being possible to obtain 
young plants, in. fresh, vigorous condition 
when properly packed, in any part of the 
State, from nurserymen located in the 
metropolis, or important provincial 
towns, 
—Raising Annuals, &., from Seed.— 
Nurserymen a:d_ proficient gardeners 
‘experience very little difficulty in raising 
plants from good seeds, but the novice 
often fails on account of ignorance of the 
necessiry conditions for their propaga- 
tion. The first condition necessary 
towards success is good fresh seed, it 
‘being as reasonable to expect to get a 
-small 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
chicken from an addled egg as a plant 
from a seed that has lost its germinating 
power through old age. Seeds require a 
moderate moisture and warmth t> insure 
germination, and also comparative 
absence of light and presence of air in 
the soil. A well tilled and finely divided 
loam or a light sandy soil, fairly provided 
with humus, supplies the requisite con 
ditions generally. Good drainage insures 
soil aeration, and the soil covering that 
is placed over the seeds, the necessary 
exclusion of light. 
Many annual plants will not thrive if 
disturbed by transplanting, mignonette 
being an example. In such cases the 
seeds should be sown thinly in the garden 
beds; but the majority of kinds trans- 
plant well and it is generally most con- 
venient to raise the plants in small beds, 
boxes, &c , and, when they are sufliciently 
large, to transfer them to their flowering 
quarters. A few shallow boxes and a 
quantity of light porous soil is 
often the only equipment of some of tke 
“small trade growers, and it is astonishing 
what large quantities of plants are raised 
in such places during one year, The 
boxes are perforated and thoroughly 
drained by placing about two inches of 
coarse a hes over the bottom, then the 
soil is placed in them and pressed fairly 
firm. The surface is made smooth and 
even and the seeds sown evenly and thinly 
and covered with light sifted soil to a 
depth agreeing with the size of seeds. 
Very fine seeds should be merely covered, 
those moderate in size, which includes 
most flowering annuals as stocks, phlox, 
&e., toa depth of about half an inch, 
while larzer seeds such as sweet peas, large 
sunflowers, &c , require to be covered by 
at least two inches of soil to insure sufli- 
cient moisture tosoften the seeds and 
promote germination. The soil -used 
should be damp, but not wet or sticky. to 
sow the seeds on, but the covering soil 
should be rather dry. 
No manure is necessary to the germina- 
tion of the seed or the welfare of the 
young plant until it is transplanted, and . 
it is often on account of the use of organic 
manure or fertilisers in the seed beds that 
failure has resulted. More sturdy and 
hardy plants are raised when the. soil is 
comparatively poor and dry. The roots 
of such plints are more fibrous in char- 
acter than those of plants grown in rich 
soil and liberally watered, and can be 
transplanted with a prospect of. success, if 
the snil thit they are transplinted in is in 
good condition and supplied with plant 
food. ‘Watering seed veds is also a fre- 
yuent cause of failure If the soil is 
moderately moist, little, if any, water is 
required until the plants appear, and in 
case of palpable need of water it should 
be applied gently through a fine rose 
nozzle. A heavy, splashing, watering will 
produce a caked surface through which ° 
the youug plants cannot penetrate. 
—Soil Preparation and Planting.— 
The secret of the cultivation of the fine 
13 
flowers seen at exhibitions is a thorough 
preparation of the soil, It is commonly 
the fate of annuals to be planted in poor, 
cloddy, soil that has been robbed by large 
shrubs or trees of all moisture and plant 
food it contained. Under such conditions 
poor results are certain, but if a position 
is selected free from root invasion and in 
good sunlight, and the soil is deeply 
worked and well manured, and afterwards 
cultivated and watered when necessary, 
strong plants and fine flowers will devélop 
if the variety is a good one and suitable 
to the place. 
A succession of plantings of various 
annuals may be made while moderately 
moist conditions prevail in spring, the 
best results being obtained from plants 
that have been set out fairly early while 
the soil and the air were moist and the 
weather cool. The plant should not be 
allowed to grow in the seed beds or boxes 
until they are drawn and weakly, but 
should be transplanted when about an 
inch or slightly more in height, if the 
kind is capable of resisting the climatic 
influence likely tooceur. Suflicient room 
should be allowed for each plant to enable 
it to obtain its maximum size. A very 
common error is to plant clusely to ‘cover 
the ground’ quickly. The plants con- 
sequently are starved and, if such is the 
cultivator’s ideal, it would be waste to 
purchase seeds or plants of good kinds or 
varieties. To prolong the season of 
blooming, the flowers of free seeding 
annual plants should be cut as soon as 
they are fading, thus preventing the 
formation of seeds which would quickly 
terminate the flowering period if per- 
mitted. 
—Selectien of Kinds.— 
Individual taste and local conditions 
generally determine the choice of all 
plants. In the case of annuals and bien- 
nials, the cultivator has a wide range of 
plants and seeds to choose from and 
should be guided in a great measure by 
results obtained locally. Among the 
most valuable and popular annuals :—are 
Sweet peas, phlox Drummondii, corn- 
flowers, poppies, larkspurs, coreopsis, 
mignoncette, lupins, sweet sultan, si.i- 
flowers, nasturtiums, stocks, nemesias, 
asters, zinnias, salpiglossis, cockscomb , 
amaranthus, Sturt’s desert pea, various 
everlasting tlowers, and annual grasses. 
Biennial plants worthy of culture in- 
clude:—Foxgloves, Canterbury _ bells, 
wallflowers, stocks of the Brompton class, 
leptosyne, &c. 
Undertakers. 
ADDY, J. C., & SON, Funeral Direc- 
tors and Oarriage Proprietors, 
All Funerals conducted under personal 
eupervision. 113 Flinders St., Adelaide. 
Phones—Adelaide 1077, Port 110, and 
Ssmaphore 263. and Jetty Road, Glenelg. 
Phone 78, 
