1870.] PELARGONIUMS FROM SEED. 81 



HOW I RAISE MY PELARGONIUMS FROM SEED. 



I think the details of my plan likely to be interesting to any one, 

 who, like myself, is fond of raising Pelargoniums from seed ; and those 

 who have not yet attempted to do so may be led to try the experiment 

 from a perusal of the rules of the simple but sure way by which I get 

 a nice lot of young plants from good seed. I find that if the raiser 

 selects his seed from some good varieties, he may reasonably expect 

 some good things, and possibly a few real novelties ; but be sure that it 

 does come from good varieties, and that the seed is fully ripened. If 

 you have no plants from which to get seed good enough for your pur- 

 pose, you can hardly fail to obtain some from your nurseryman. 



Now for the mode in which I sow my seed. I take some 48-sized 

 pots, and put in them a few crocks, and a few rough lumps of turfy 

 loam for drainage, then a few smaller pieces by which to fill up the 

 pots to within 3 inches of the rim : then for a suitable soil in 

 which to place the seeds, I mix together a little loam, leaf-mould, and 

 silver-sand, and either finally pulverise it with the hands, or sift it 

 through a fine riddle. I then fill up the pots with this mixture to with- 

 in half an inch of the rim, and give them a rap or two on the potting 

 bench to settle the soil ; then I add a thin layer of silver-sand, and 

 slightly water the pots through a very fine rose watering - pot ; 

 then sprinkle a little more sand on w r hilst the soil is moist, and allow 

 them to stand two or three hours ere I sow. Meanwhile I select the 

 seeds to be sown, and these I pick out separately and lay them on a 

 piece of paper ready to hand, so that they can be picked up singly. 

 Now I take a small stick about the size of a penholder, pointed at one 

 end, and in the soil I make small holes about half an inch in depth, 

 beginning with a circle about half an inch from the rim of the pot, 

 and so add circles till the space is covered with them. Those who 

 grow Pelargoniums know well that the seeds have each a kind of 

 minute silvery feather at one end of them. I take each seed by this 

 feature and place it in an upright position in the hole, holding the 

 feathery part in the hand as in the act of planting cuttings, and allow- 

 ing it to project from the soil. Each pot of the size named takes about 

 forty seeds, and when all are planted the soil is settled about the seeds 

 by a slight sprinkle from the watering-pot. Now each pot looks as if 

 I had stuck a lot of very small feathers in the sand instead of seeds. 

 I place the pots on a shelf in the greenhouse, and in about a fortnight's 

 time I can perceive rising up from the base of the little silvery feather 

 the tiniest green leaves. The leafage is very pretty indeed at this 

 stage, and it is extremely interesting to watch their development, as 

 some have pale golden leaves, some light-green, and some dark-green 



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