RANI NCl'LUS. 183 



dry and brown. The heads containing the seeds 

 may then be cut of!', and spread upon paper until 

 all humidity is exhaled from them, when they may 

 be preserved in a bag, in any warm, dry place, until 

 the month of January, which is the best time for 

 sowing them. The heads containing the seeds 

 should then be put in a tea-tray, and placed before 

 the fire till they are just warm ; the seeds will then 

 easily scrape off with the assistance of a small knife, 

 but care must be taken to avoid scraping them off 

 in lumps, or suffering any pieces of the stalk or other 

 extraneous matter to be mixed with them, which 

 would create mouldiness when sown. When the 

 seed is scraped in a proper manner, it will have 

 much the appearance of clean, course bran, with 

 a spot in the centre of each cuticle, which is the 

 kernel. 



u When the seed is thus prepared, it should be 

 sown in a shallow frame provided with sashes ; the 

 soil should have been previously taken out three 

 feet deep, and spread thin upon the ground till it 

 has been perfectly frozen throughout, in order to 

 destroy any vermin it may have contained, more 

 particularly the common earth-worms. 



" When the pit is filled up again with the frozen 

 lumps of earth, it should remain till the whole mass 

 has thawed, and subsided to its pristine bulk, or 

 nearly so. Its surface should then be made per- 



