iature White and =N. affinis=; Phlox,
Purity, one of the most lovely pot plants for the conservatory and of
especial value for decorative work at Easter; Salpiglossis; and the
pretty blue, Cineraria-like, Swan River Daisy. From the fact that these
annuals are of the hardy or half-hardy types it will be readily
understood that no great amount of heat is required to bring them to
maturity; indeed, the more hardy the treatment the better for their
well-doing. Seed should be sown during August or September in pots or
pans placed in a cool frame, the seedlings being pricked off into other
pots as soon as they have attained a suitable size. As colder weather
approaches, transfer to the greenhouse or conservatory, and provided the
night temperature is not allowed to fall below 45 deg. all should be well.
During the day give the plants the maximum of air whenever weather
permits.

==Hardy Annuals.==--The seeds should be sown on a carefully prepared
surface from which large stones have been removed, and the clods must be
broken, but the soil should not be made so smooth as to become pasty
under rain. Sow thinly, in rows spaced to agree with the height of the
plant, cover with a very slight coat of fine dry earth--the smallest
seeds needing but a mere dusting to cover them--and, from the first,
keep the plants thinned sufficiently to prevent overcrowding.
Spring-sown annuals are worthy of a better soil than they usually have
allotted them, and also of more careful treatment. It is not wise to sow
earlier than March or later than the middle of April. In the
after-culture the most important matter is to keep the clumps well
thinned. Not only will the bloom of crowded plants be comparatively poor
and brief, but by early and bold thinning the plants will become so
robust, and cover such large spaces of ground with their ample leafage
and well-developed flowers, as really to astonish people who think they
know all about annuals, and who may have ventured after much
ill-treatment to designate them 'fugacious and weedy.' Although the
sowing of hardy annuals direct on to beds and borders where the plants
are wanted is economical in labour and avoids the check which
transplanting occasions, the practice of raising annuals on specially
prepared seed-beds and pricking out the plants to blooming quarters is
sometimes followed. The soil into which they are transferred for
flowering should be deeply dug, thoroughly broken up, and, if at all
p