uniformity also, it is always better to sow seeds of hardy or annual
flowers in a seed bed, and then remove, when half a dozen leaves appear,
to the permanent position in the ornamental part of the garden.

With annuals, of course, there are some exceptions to this rule,--in the
case of sweet peas, nasturtiums, mignonette, portulaca, poppies, and
the like, where great quantities are massed.

When you have prepared a hardy seed bed of the dimensions of ten by
thirty feet, which will allow of thirty rows, ten feet long and a foot
apart (though you must double the thirty feet if you intend to cultivate
between the rows with any sort of weeding machine, and if you have room
there should be two feet or even three between the rows), draw a garden
line taut across the narrow way of the plot at the top, snap it, and you
will have the drill for your first planting, which you may deepen if the
seeds be large.

Before beginning, make a list of your seeds, with the heights marked
against each, and put the tallest at the top of the bed.

"Why bother with this, when they are to be transplanted as soon as they
are fist up?" I hear Mary Penrose exclaim quickly, her head tipped to
one side like an inquisitive bird.

Because this seed bed, if well planned, will serve the double purpose of
being also the "house supply bed." If, when the transplanting is done,
the seedlings are taken at regular intervals, instead of all from one
spot, those that remain, if not needed as emergency fillers, will bloom
as they stand and be the flowers to be utilized by cutting for house
decoration, without depriving the garden beds of too much of their