MAY. 135 



HANGING BASKETS. 

 The employment of these at the Crystal Palace and other places with 

 such good effect has rendered them fashionable. They are often, how- 

 ever, used where they are entirely out of place, and the reason is 

 obvious. There are few baskets like those at the Crystal Palace ; the 

 latter, being large and capacious, contain sufficient soil to supply the 

 necessary requirements of their occupants for a length of time. And in 

 many instances the plants which ornament them are not grown in 

 them ; in fact, they are plants in pots arranged for effect. Widely 

 different from this are the baskets generally met with. They are 

 often small and fantastic in form, and are not of sufficient size to contain 

 a quart of earth. In these are placed a variety of plants, which, over- 

 hanging the occupants in airy conservatories, are unable to withstand 

 our summer's sun, perish by degrees, and, instead of becoming and 

 being ornamental in themselves, they detract greatly from the general 

 interest of the house they are intended to decorate. In a close shaded 

 stove, baskets may be judiciously employed, and of almost any size. 

 But under the circumstances just alluded to, it would be well to use a 

 little discretion in the selecting and placing of flower baskets, taking 

 care to see that they are replenished or removed when no longer 

 ornamental. 



George Westland. 

 Kingston Hall, Nottinghamshire. 



SEEDS AND SEED SOWING. 



There are very few persons who will deny the importance of sowing 

 good sound seed. On the quality of the seed depends, in no small 

 degree, the quantity and quality of the future crop. If the seed sown 

 be sound and perfect, the crop will, all other conditions being 

 favourable, be good ; but if the seed be unsound and immature, no 

 other conditions, however favourable, will secure satisfactory results. 

 When, therefore, people purchase seed, they should see that they get 

 it good, and not rubbish. 



Unfortunately, too many people now-a-days, acting on the penny- 

 wise and pound-foolish principle, are silly enough to buy any kind of 

 trash, because it happens to be cheap. They either do not know, or 

 they forget, that though they may get a great bulk for their 

 money, they have made a bad bargain. They do not know that 50 or 

 60 per cent., and sometimes considerably more, of their cheap trash 

 is mere dead matter, and the remainder very inferior seed ; so that in 

 reality good seed is always the cheapest, as 1 lb. of it sound will give 

 more satisfactory results than 6 lbs. of bad stuff. This catching at 

 cheap bargains is one of the great besetting sins of the age. There 

 can be no difficulty in procuring good seed, as nearly all the respect- 

 able seedsmen annually inform their " kind patrons and the public at 

 large," that " especial attention has been paid to the growth and 



