1879.] MIGNONNETTE FOR WINTER FORCING. 21 



variety of purposes ; and yet the latter are pleasing objects in their 

 own places, when training is not " overdone " — that is to say, when the 

 plants are tied for the last time a little while before growth has ceased, 

 and there is a regular surface of growth all over the trellis, something 

 like a bed of Mignonnette in the open air. 



The seed should be sown some time during the month of February, 

 or not later than the beginning of March, in 3-inch pots, washed clean, 

 and drained with a single crock laid over the drainage hole, and a 

 layer of cakey leaf-mould placed over it. The root should then be 

 filled to within watering space of the brim with rich open mould, and 

 pressed firm with the fingers. The requisite number of pots being col- 

 lected together on the potting-bench, and filled as directed, shake a 

 little soil through a fine sieve all over them in order to make a fine 

 level surface on which to lay the seeds, to the number of three or four 

 in a pot, and then cover slightly through a sieve as before. 



If all the seeds germinate, of course the number will be reduced to 

 the strongest and most promising plant nearest to the centre of the 

 pot. When the seed is covered, the next point to be considered is the 

 most likely place to set the pots during the process of germination. 

 It may be said it is not a difficult matter to raise any quantity of 

 Mignonnette from seed ; still it depends much upon how the young 

 tenderlings are treated at this stage, whether they will develop and 

 furnish shoots in sufficient number and strength to form a trained 

 specimen. Therefore it is recommended that some special provision 

 be made at the commencement to keep the plants in a uniform tem- 

 perature till they are finally hardened off and turned out of doors. A 

 check to growth is sure to succeed if germination takes place in a 

 warm frame ; for although the atmosphere of a propagating frame may 

 be favourable to germination, it seldom or never happens that such 

 conditions can be kept up afterwards, and a check is the result. A 

 mean of 60° is safe, and if the soil is in a moist state when used, 

 and not exposed to variations of temperature, the seeds will germinate 

 in it without any further trouble than that of keeping up a humid 

 atmosphere by frequent sprinklings through a fine syringe. When the 

 young plants have attained the length of 2 or 3 inches, an upright 

 stake will be necessary to tie the plant to ; and the conditions recom- 

 mended during germination will need to be gradually modified until 

 the plants are fully exposed to light and air. There is no better place 

 for growing these and similar plants successfully than a low pit, with 

 a single hot-water pipe round it, where a steady temperature can be 

 kept up during our changeable spring months ; and it is also advised 

 that the pots should be plunged in sifted coal -ashes to lessen the 

 necessity of watering, and to counteract the effect of the outer air as 

 long as the plants are confined to small pots : and if the pit is a lean-to, 

 they should be turned round occasionally so that they will be fairly 

 proportioned and balanced for whatever form they are ultimately 



