sun being only to be avoided, or steep slopes that arc liable to wash with heavy 

 rains. 



If there be ground enough to spare, it is best to sow the seeds in rows ; the 

 seedlings get more light, and so grow more vigorously, and the ground between 

 them can then be loosened occasionally to their advantage ; but if the ground 

 be properly prepared as I have advised, they do very well sown broadcast in beds 

 of about five feet wide, or sufficient to enable one to get in to thin or weed if 

 required. 



So much for soil and mode of sowing generally ; the next is to apply the indi- 

 vidual cases. Many seeds will not grow if kept long out of the ground. Of 

 this character are some maples, horsechcstnuts, sweet chestnuts, laurus's or the 

 sassafras family, and most of the oaks. These should be sown as soon after collect- 

 ing as possible ; they will, for the most part, grow at once, and be fine little plants 

 before winter sets in. The oaks, even though ripening late, will often send down 

 roots three inches long before they get frozen in. These, in sowing, do not re- 

 quire to be covered more than a quarter of an inch with soil. When it is not 

 convenient to i)lant at once, seeds of this character should be put into sand, and 

 kept barely moist, and as cool as possible, until all things suit. 



There are other kinds that do not grow if not planted before winter. The 

 euonymus, rhododendrons, yews, clematis, all maples and ashes, hickories, and 

 walnuts, nettle-trees, cleanothus, and silver bells, chionanthus, dogwoods, and mag- 

 nolias, usually the lindens, and viburnums. Some seeds, even if put in the ground 

 in the fall, if allowed to get " dead ripe" before gathering, will not come up till 

 even the second year. The hawthorns, dogwoods, and hollies, are exara])les. If 

 such do not come up the first year, they should not be disturlDed. I have a bed 

 of Crataegus cordata which appeared in June, this year, and which were sown in 

 November, 1854. 



Sometimes it is not possible to get seeds to hand till the frost has closed the 

 ground. The method is then to place them in boxes well mixed and covered 

 with sand, and placed out in exposure to all weathers ; but great care must be 

 taken to put them out very early in spring, or they will begin to sprout, and 

 hundreds get destroyed in the operation. This plan should not be followed if the 

 seed can possibly be got in before winter, as they are more apt to suffer by dry 

 weather when retained till spring. 



The kind of seeds which do well retained till spring, are principally pin«s and 

 coniferous plants, the pea-flowered tribe, as the locusts, Kentucky coffee, amorphas, 

 Judas-tree, and laburnum. Pines of all kinds grow best in sandy leaf soil, in a 

 situation not liable to be dried by the sun, or saturated with heavy rains. They 

 must not be buried deeply in sowing ; the smaller seeds very lightly raked in, and 

 the larger ones merely sown in dry soil, and beaten in with the back of the spade. 

 The leguminous seeds are best soaked a few hours before sowing, and should par- 

 ticularly be sown very early, and in deep, rich soil ; they are best always sown in 

 rows about as wide apart in the rows as peas are sown, and covered from a quarter 

 to a half inch deep, according to size of seed. 



Most of the hard-shelled seeds grow best when sown in sharp, sandy soil, kept 

 constantly moist; the holly and halesia are especially of this kind. Every tribe 

 of plants — almost every species — has some peculiar taste of its own, leading it to 

 prefer a particular mode of treatment. This can only be learned by experience — 

 our own, or that of others. In all cases, a strict watch must be set on all kinds 

 of vermin ; ground-mice are the most destructive. These are easily kept in check 

 by using peas, soaking them twenty-four hours in water, then rolling them 

 arsenic, and burvino: them in the soil. 



