266 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



up they are gradually hardened off. Some seeds are so hard that we may bury 

 them for months before the shell shall be burst by the embryo, because moist- 

 ure can not reach them : these may be soaked in water of a temperature of 

 130° for a couple of days. In sowing seeds, a good, general rule is, to cover 

 only to the tliickness of their own diameter, and small dust-like seeds should 

 be sown on a damp surface, without any covering of soil whatever. 



A box, a foot or so square and three or four inches deep, is better to sow seed 

 in than a pot, as it retains moisture longer; and this is one of the secrets of 

 raising plants from seed, as they are apt to perish if frequently watered before 

 they have gained some strength. Fill the box to within one inch of the top 

 with light porous soil and press smoothly with a i)iece of board, after which 

 give a good watering with a fine sprinkler, then sow the seed and press gently 

 into the soil. Cover the box with a piece of glass and on that place any opaque 

 substance, such as a piece of paper or a little moss, and stand the box in a shady 

 corner. The glass will check evaporation from the soil and yet allow of the ad- 

 mission of air, while the box will absorb quite as much moisture as it parts with, 

 and thus the soil will hold just enough moisture to slowly expand the integu- 

 ments of the seed. Failures in raising plants from seeds are chiefly due to 

 getting the seeds too deep, or from filling the pot or box too full of soil and 

 sowing too near the surface that the seeds are dried up or washed away in 

 watering. 



Propagation of Plants from Cuttinfjs. 



Success in rooting cuttings will, in general, be in proportion to our skill in 

 preventing the cutting feeling its removal from the parent plant. Hence, 

 other things being equal, well-ripened shoots of deciduous plants are more 

 easily rooted than those in a less mature condition, though if proper condi- 

 tions were at hand the latter would root the soonest. Suppose you have a nice 

 growing plant in your window early in May, and it has many young shoots on 

 it two or three inches long, slip them off close to the stem, cut off a few of the 

 lower leaves and insert in a pot of sand, expose them to the sun and air in your 

 Avindow and most likely your labor will be in vain; but cover the pot with a 

 a piece of glass, to keep the atmosphere about them moist, and shade from 

 sunshine until they can bear it without wilting, and you will have rooted plants 

 in as many days as you would have in weeks from deciduous cuttings. In gen- 

 eral it is best to have a cutting cut off at a bud, as the vital forces are stronger 

 there and there is less danger of their decaying from extra absorption of water. 

 Sand as a medium in which to root cuttings is preferable to anything else ; 

 because it prevents too much water collecting about the base of the cutting, on 

 the one hand, and on the other the entrance of too much air to dry it up. 

 Other methods of propagation are chiefly the separating of tubrous and bulbous 

 plants and the dividing of the roots of herbaceous plants. 



• Freezing of Plants. 



Whenever plants get frozen they should be thawed out gradually, by putting 

 them in a cool, dark place and sprinkling with cold water. When the frost 

 has thawed out restore them to the light. 



Worms in Pots. 



Lime water will remove the ordinary worms from })lant pots; the strength is 

 of no particular consequence, so long as the water is perfectly clear; ])ut to kill 

 wireworms you must use salt, or some chemical stuff equally strong, which would 



