_weeds_. These, if left to their own
natural growth, would soon cover the ground, and take away from the
garden plants the nutriment in the soil designed for them, besides
entangling their roots, stems, and leaves; therefore, weeding is as
indispensable as digging. The young gardener should make up his mind
before he sets foot in his garden to have _no weeds in it_; for however
assiduous he may have been in other respects, however he may have
planted, watered, dug, or attended to his garden, if it show a crop of
weeds, he is a bad gardener, and will be sure to get laughed at. Weeds
may either be pulled up by the hand or cut up by the hoe. In both cases,
the roots must be eradicated. They must not be plucked from the stem, or
cut from the level ground by the edge of the hoe, but hoed or plucked
up, root and all; and after they are got up, they are not be left about
in the ridges to take root and grow again, but must be cleared away and
safely put into the pit, never again to rise, but in the chemistry of
good manure.

PLANTING AND SOWING.

Everything in a garden must be planted in some way or other, and there
are many ways of planting and sowing. Sowing relates more particularly
to seeds, and planting to the setting of plants that have been raised
from seed in the first instance. The sowing of seeds is a very important
work, and before seeds can be sown with a prospect of their springing up
properly, the preparation of the soil, the time of the year, and even
the time of day, must be taken into consideration. Some seeds perish in
particular kinds of soil, while others thrive luxuriantly in them.
Onions like a rich soil, as do cauliflowers and asparagus. Carrots and
parsnips like a loose or sandy soil, as do sea-kale and many other
plants. Some plants will only grow in bog earth; and some thrive, such
as strawberries, best in a clayey loam. Attention to such matters must
be given by the young gardener, if he wish to have his garden what it
ought to be.

HOT-BEDS AND FRAMES.

[Illustration]

Before we can sow many kinds of seeds in this country in the open
ground, it is necessary to raise them first in a hot-bed, and for this
reason,--many flowers common in our gardens are not natives of our cold
and variable climate, but of one much warmer; and if we delay to sow the
seed of such plants and flowers till the warm days of summer are fully
set in, the plant has scarcely time to grow into perfection before the
chil