_Tender annuals_, such as balsams, cock's-combs, globe amaranths, &c., must be sown in February or March in pots of light rich earth, and plunged in a hotbed. As soon as the plants come up they should be transplanted into pots of the very smallest size, one in each pot; and these small pots should be set in the hotbed again, as near the glass as possible, and slightly shaded during sunshine. In a week or two, as soon as the roots have made their appearance on the outside of the ball of earth within the pot, which is known by turning the ball of earth with the plant in it carefully out of the pot without breaking it, the plants are shifted into pots a size larger than what they were in before, and the space filled up with light rich soil. In another week or two the plants must be shifted again into pots a little larger, always using light rich mould to fill up the pots, and taking care that the pots are well drained, by putting potsherds, that is, pieces of broken pot at the bottom. As soon as the plants are shifted, the pots must be replunged in the hotbed, and shaded for the remainder of the day. The shifting and replunging must be continued till the plants begin to show flower-buds; after which they must neither be shifted nor plunged in the hotbed any more, but gradually hardened, by the frame in which they are placed being left open all day, and, at last, only partially closed, even at night, till the plants will bear setting out entirely in the open air; unless they should be intended to flower in a greenhouse, in which case they may be removed to the greenhouse as soon as they have formed flower-buds. As I shall treat of the management of the greenhouse plants, which are to succeed the annuals, in my next, I may as well fill up my present letter by saying a few words on the management of hardy perennials, in case you should prefer planting biennials and perennials in your beds at once, to going through the routine that I have marked out for you in the former part of this letter. _Perennials_ are those permanent plants which are not woody, and yet remain in the ground as long as most kinds of shrubs, producing flowers and seeds every year. Perennials are of two kinds: those that die down to the ground every autumn, and send up fresh stems from the root the following spring; and those which remain green all the year, as, for example, the pinks and carnations. Besides these kinds, there are other sorts of perennials, as, for example, those that have tuberous roots, such as the dahlia. Bulbs are also perennials; but of these I have already spoken.