If seedlings are to be transplanted, do it after sundown or on a cloudy day. Lift the tender plants as carefully as possible, and aim to not expose their delicate roots. Get the place in which you propose to plant them ready before you lift them, and then set them out immediately. Make a hole as deep as their roots are long, drop the plants into it, and press the soil firmly about them with thumb and finger. It may be well to water them if the season is a dry one. Shade them next day, and continue to do so until they show that they have made new feeding roots by beginning to grow. I make use of a "shader" that I have "evolved from my inner consciousness" that gives better satisfaction than anything else I have ever tried. I cut thick brown paper into circular shape, eight inches across. Then I cut out a quarter of it, and bring the edges of this cut together, and run a stick or wire through them to hold them together. This stick or wire should be about ten inches long, as the lower end of it must go into the soil. When my "shader" is ready for use it has some resemblance to a paper umbrella with a handle at one side instead of in the middle. This handle is inserted in the soil close to the plant, and the "umbrella" shades it most effectively, and does this without interfering with a free circulation of air, which is a matter of great importance.

If thorough work in the way of weeding is done at the beginning of the season, it will be an easy matter to keep the upper hand of the enemy later on. But if you allow the weeds to get the start of you, you will have to do some hard fighting to gain the supremacy which ought never to have been relinquished. After a little, the hoe can be used to advantage. If the season happens to be a dry one, do not allow the soil to become hard, and caked on the surface, under the impression that it will not be safe to stir it because of the drouth. A soil that is kept light and open will absorb all the moisture there is in the air, while one whose surface is crusted over cannot do this, therefore plants growing in it suffer far more than those do in the soil that is stirred constantly. Aim to get all possible benefit from dews and slight showers by keeping the soil in such a sponge-like condition that it can take advantage of them.

It is a good plan to use the grass-clippings from the lawn as a mulch about your plants in hot, dry weather.

Do not begin to water plants in a dry season unless you can keep up the practice. Better let them take the chances of pulling through without the application than to give it for a short time and then abandon it because of the magnitude of the task.

Furnish racks and trellises for such plants as need them as soon as they are needed. Many a good plant is spoiled by neglecting to give attention to its requirements at the proper time.

Make it a rule to go over the garden at least twice a week, after the flowering season sets in, and cut away all faded flowers. If this is done, no seed will come to development, and the strength of the plants will be expended in the production of other flowers. By keeping up this practice through the season, it is possible to keep most of them blossoming until late in the summer, as they will endeavor to perpetuate themselves by the production of seed, and the first step in this process is the production of flowers.

What flowers would you advise us to grow? many readers of this chapter will be sure to ask, after having read what I have said above about the garden of annuals.

In answering this question here, it will be necessary, in a measure, to repeat what has been, or will be, said in other chapters, where various phases of gardening are treated. But the question is one that should be answered in this connection, at the risk of repetition, in order to fully cover the subject now under consideration.

There are so many kinds of flowers offered by the seedsmen that it is a difficult matter to decide between them, when all are so good. But no one garden is large enough to contain them all. Were one to attempt the cultivation of all he would be obliged to put in all his time at the work, and the services of an assistant would be needed, besides. Even then the chances are that the work would be done in a superficial fashion. Therefore I shall mention only such kinds as I consider the very best of the lot for general use, adding this advice:

Don't attempt too much. A few good kinds, well grown, will afford a great deal more pleasure than a great many kinds only half grown.

This list is made up of such kinds as can properly be classed as "stand-bys," kinds which any amateur gardener can be reasonably sure of success with if the instructions given in this chapter are carefully followed.

Alyssum

Commonly called Sweet Alyssum, because of its pleasing fragrance. Of low growth. Very effective as an edging. Most profuse and constant bloomer.

Aster

This annual disputes popularity with the Sweet Pea. Very many persons would prefer it to any other because of its sturdy habit, ease of culture, profusion of bloom, and great variety of color. It is one of the indispensables.

A BED OF ASTERS

Antirrhinum (Snapdragon)

Plant of profuse flowering habit. Flowers of peculiar shape, mostly in rich colors. Very satisfactory for autumn.

Balsam

Splendid plant for summer flowering, coming in many colors, some of these exceedingly delicate and beautiful. Flowers like small Roses, very double, and set so thickly along the stalks that each branch seems like a wreath of bloom. It is often necessary to trim off many of the leaves in order to give the blossoms a chance to display themselves. Some varieties are charmingly variegated. Being quite tender it should not be sown until one is sure of warm weather.

Calliopsis (Coreopsis)

A very showy plant, with rich yellow flowers, marked with brown, maroon and scarlet at the base of the petal. A most excellent plant where great masses of color are desired. Fine for combining with scarlet and other strong-toned flowers. An all-the-season bloomer.