422.  Flowers  are  cultivated   in  beds,  where  the  whole  bed  con-
sists of  a  mass  of  one  sort  of  flower  ;  or  in  borders,  where  an
infinite  variety  of  them  are  mingled  together,  but  arranged  so  that
they  may  blend  with  one   another  in  colour  as  well  as   in  stature.
Beds   are    very  little    the    fashion    now,   excepting   amongst   the
florists,  who   cultivate   their  tulips,  hyacinths,   and   other   choice
flowers,  in   this  manner  ;  but  the  fashion   has  for  years  been  in
favour  of  borders,  wherein  flowers  of  the  greatest  brilliancy  are
planted,    so   disposed    as    to   form   a    regular   series   higher   and
higher   as    they  approach    the    back    part,  or   the  middle  of   the
border ;  and  so  selected  as  to  insure  a  succession  of  blossom  from
the  earliest  months  of  the  spring   until  the  coming  of  the  frosts.
This  is  easily  attained  by  paying  strict  attention  to  the  height  and
time  of  flowering  of  plants,  both  of  which  I   have  taken  care  to
notice  under  each,  in  the  alphabetical  list  below.     In  the  mixed
beds  of  flowers,  there  are  two  things  which,  more  than  all   others,
tend  to  give  them  the  desired  agreeable  appearance  :   one  is,  room
between  the  several   plants.      A  mat  of  the  most  beautiful  flowers
in  the  world,  crowded  up  against  each  other,  and  out  of  all  orderr
never    can    look    like    any  other  than  a   mass   of  brilliant  weeds.
