Although the Ten-week Stock is half-hardy, it must not receive the treatment of a tender annual; indeed, one of the most important points in growing it is to avoid any excess of artificial heat.  A little assistance at the commencement it must have; but the aim should be to impart a hardy constitution from the moment the seedlings appear.  We are not advocating reckless exposure to chill blasts, but the necessity of giving air freely whenever there may be a fair opportunity.  The best of seed-beds can be made in pans or shallow boxes filled with sweet, sandy soil.  In these sow thinly, so that the young plants may have abundant room.  Even a little apparent wastefulness of space will be repaid by stout and vigorous growth.  From the middle to the end of the month is a suitable time for sowing.

==Sweet Pea==.—­This flower is so much in demand for decorative purposes that a prolonged display should be secured by successive sowings, commencing in this month and continuing until May, or even to June, where the soil and circumstances are specially favourable.  The value of groups of Sweet Peas in borders and for enlivening shrubberies is now thoroughly appreciated, and it is not uncommon to see fine clumps among dwarf fruit trees.

==Tigridia, or Ferraria==.—­Finer flowers are generally obtained from the open border than from pots, and the bulbs should be planted out three or four inches deep in March or April.  Sandy loam and peat suit them admirably.  On a dry border these bulbs will pass the winter safely, but in wet land it will be perilous to leave them out.

==Verbena.==—­It is possible to raise Verbenas in the open from seed sown in drills on light soil, but the attempt is a little hazardous.  There is, however, no danger at all in sowing in pans placed in a cool frame.  The plants should be potted immediately they are large enough to handle.  The flowering from this sowing will be rather late, but not too late for a good show of bloom.

==Zinnia.==—­The double varieties are now grown almost to the exclusion of single flowers, and the former are so incomparably superior, that they are judged by the severe rules of the florist.  With this plant it is useless to start too early.  Towards the end of the month a commencement will be made by experienced growers, but the comparative novice will be wise to wait until the beginning of April.  Sow in pots filled with a compost of leaf-mould, loam, and sand, and be quite sure there is effectual drainage.  Plunge the pots in a temperature of about 60 deg..

==April==

Many half-hardy flowers, such as Acroclinium, =Convolvulus major=, =Linum rubrum=, Nemesia, Salpiglossis, Schizanthus, and others, which at an earlier period can only be sown with safety under protection, may now be consigned to the open ground without the least misgiving.  A knowledge of this fact is of immense value to owners of gardens that are destitute of glass, for it enables them to grow a large number of flowers which would otherwise be impracticable.  Of course, the flowering will be a little later than from plants raised earlier in heat.