SEEDS. 
placed among the green of living 
plants. 
Securipa\ce.—-Polygidlee.—-Stove 
climbers from the West Indies, with 
white flowers, which should be grown 
im a mixture of peat and loam. 
Securi'cera.—-Leguminose —The 
Hatchet Vetch. A hardy annual, 
with yellow pea-flowers. It requires 
no other care than sowing in March 
or April, but as it is very coarse- 
growing, and requires a great deal 
of room, it is not suitable for a small 
garden. This plant was called Co- 
ronilla Securidaca by Linneus. 
Sre‘pum. — Crassaldcee. — The 
Stone Crop. Succulent plants with 
white, red, or yellow flowers. ‘The 
genus takes its botanic name of 
Sedum from the Latin verb Nedere, 
to sit, because in its wild state it 
appears to be sitting or crouching 
on the old walls or rocks which form 
ifs habitat; and its English name 
we! Stone Crop alludes to the same | 
habit of growth, as it appears to be 
growing out of stones which afford | 
no, other crop. All the species, 
though quite hardy, should be grown 
in well-drained pots filled with turfy 
loam, mixed with lime-rubbish ; and 
they are all admirably adapted for 
rockwork. They are increased by 
cuttings, or dividing the roots. 
Seeps.—The gathering and pre- 
servation of seeds is an occupation 
peculiarly agreeable to persons fond 
of gardening ; partly, no doubt, be- 
cause it contains so much of future 
promise, and on the same principle 
that sowing is universally considered 
a more exciting operation than reap- 
ing. he greater number of seeds 
of ornamental herbaceous plants 
are contained in long narrow pods, 
called siliques, or sillicles, such as 
those of the cruciferous plants; or 
in leguminous pods, such as those 
of the Sweet Pea; or of capsules, 
such as those of Campanula; but 
a number of plants produce their 
seeds naked in tubes, such as the 
370 
SEEDS. 
Scrophularine ; on receptacles, such 
as the Composita; and some in 
fruits more or less fleshy, such as 
the Fuchsia. All seeds may be 
known to be ripe, or nearly so, by 
the firmness of their texture, and 
by their changing from a white or 
greenish colour, to a colour more or 
less brown. There are, indeed, 
some seeds which are whitish when 
ripe, such as the White Lupine, and 
several of the Sweet Peas; and 
other seeds that are quite black, 
such as those of some Ranuncu- 
luses; but, in general, a brown 
colour is a characteristic of ripeness. 
Seeds should be gathered on a dry 
day, after the sun has had sufficient 
time to exhale all the moisture 
which dews or rains may have left 
on the seed vessels. In general, the 
pods, or capsules, should be cut off 
with a small portion of the stalks 
attached, and the whole should be 
spread out, each kind by itself, on 
papers, in an airy room or shed, 
from which rain, and the indirect 
|influence of the sun, are both ex- 
cluded. When the seed-vessels are 
thoroughly dried, they may be put 
| up in papers, without separating the 
seeds from them, and kept in a dry 
place, rate airy than close, till 
wanted forsowing. Seeds preserved 
in the seed-vessel no doubt make 
comparatively clumsy packages, to 
seeds from which every description 
of husk or covering has been sepa- 
rated ; but in this clumsy state they 
are found to keep better than when 
cleaned. Nevertheless, when they 
are to be sown the following year, 
or sent anywhere in a letter, it is 
better to take them out of the cov- 
ering, and render them as clean as 
possible, by passing them through 
sieves, with holes sufficiently large 
to admit the escape of dust, but not 
of the seeds. Such sieves, on a 
small scale, every lady may make 
for herself, by turning up the edges 
of a piece of thin pasteboard cut 
i, 
Si ae 
