and a showery day should be chosen
for the purpose. Hotbeds should now be made, to receive the seedlings of
annual flowers raised in the former bed.----APRIL. Tie up to sticks the
stalks of tall flowers, cut the sticks about two feet long, thrust them
eight inches into the ground, and hide them among the leaves. Clean and
rake the ground between them. Take off the slips of auriculas, and plant
them out carefully for an increase. Transplant perennial flowers and
evergreens, as in the former months; take up the roots of colchichams,
and other autumnal bulbous plants. Sow French honeysuckles, wallflowers,
and other hardy plants, upon the natural ground, and the more tender
sorts on hotbeds. Transplant those sown last month, into the second
hotbed. Sow carnations and pinks on the natural ground, and on open
borders.----MAY. When the leaves of sowbreads are decayed, take up the
roots, and lay them by carefully till the time of planting. Take up the
hyacinth roots which have done flowering, and lay them sideways in a bed
of dry rich mould, leaving the stems and leaves to die away: this will
greatly strengthen the roots. Roll the gravel walks carefully and
frequently, and keep the grass clean mowed. Clean all the borders from
weeds, take off the straggling branches from the large flowering
plants, and train them up in a handsome shape. Plant out French and
African marigolds from the hotbeds, with other autumnals, the last week
of this month, choosing a cloudy warm day. Tie up the stalks of
carnations, pot the tender annuals, such as balsams and amaranths, and
set them in a hotbed frame, till summer is more advanced for planting
them in the open ground.----JUNE. Choose the evening of a mild showery
day, and plant out into the open ground, the tender annuals hitherto
kept in pots in the hotbed frame. They must be carefully loosened from
the sides of the pot, and taken out with all the mould about them; a
large hole must be opened for each, to set them upright in it; and when
settled in the ground by gentle watering, they must be tied up to
sticks. Let pinks, carnations, and sweet-williams, be laid this month
for an increase. Let the layers be covered lightly, and gently watered
every other day. Spring flowers being now over, and their leaves faded,
the roots must be taken up, and laid by for planting again at a proper
season. Snow-drops, winter-aconite, and such sorts, are to be thus
managed. The hyacinth roots, laid flat in the g