The sowing of biennial and perennial plants for a display of spring flowers must be carefully done.  The ground should be moderately rich and quite mellow through being well broken up; in other words, a good seed-bed must be prepared.  If the weather is dry, the drills should be watered before the seed is sown; and in the event of a drought, the young plants must have the aid of water to keep them going through the summer.  The seed should be sown thinly, and, as soon as the plants are large enough, they should be thinned out if at all crowded, and the thinnings can be planted in rows and shaded for a while.  As a rule, the whole of the work will be comprised in sowing, thinning, and weeding.  In average seasons they will not require watering, and in this matter alone will be seen the advantage of raising from seeds instead of cuttings.

Ordinary care, with such plants as we have named, will insure a splendid display of spring flowers; and they are worth whatever attention may be necessary to promote complete and early development.  It may happen that plants from early sowings will show a few flowers in autumn if neglected.  This is easily prevented, to the great advantage of the plants, by the simple process of ‘stopping’ or nipping out the points of the leading shoots to cause the production of side shoots.  If a sturdy growth is thus secured, and the plants are transferred to the flower-beds in October, the result will justify the labour.

Practical gardeners will not need to be informed that the system we now propose is capable of many applications and expansions; but it may be suggested to amateurs who lament the dreary aspect of their beds and borders in the month of May and early part of June, that the plants we recommend for the formation of masses in the geometric garden are equally well adapted to form beautiful clumps and sheets on borders, banks, and rockeries, as well as in many instances to serve as a groundwork to Hyacinths, Tulips, Narcissi, and other splendid hardy spring flowers.

Sweet Peas deserve to be considered separately.  These flowers are now so varied and exquisitely beautiful that they never appear in the garden too early.  From autumn sowings not only are the most forward blooms obtained, but for size and intensity of colour the flowers are unsurpassed by the later displays from spring sowings.

THE CULTURE OF FLOWERING BULBS

Our popular flowering bulbs are obtained from many lands; they are exceedingly diversified in character, and they bloom at different periods of the year.  Each variety has a value of its own, and answers to some special requirement in its proper season under glass or in the open ground.  In the darkest winter days we prize the glow of Tulips and Hyacinths for brightening our homes.  And bleak days are not all past when Aconites and Snowdrops sparkle in beds and borders.  The Anemones follow in March, and during the lengthening days of spring there are sumptuous beds of Hyacinths, Narcissi, and Tulips.  When high summer begins to decline we have stately groups of Gladioli and many beautiful Lilies in the shrubbery borders.