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Se'cateur. — A kind of pruning 

 shears, somewhat larger and stronger 

 than those common in English gar- 

 dens, and principally used in France 

 for pruning peach trees and other 

 kinds of wall fruit trees. 



Securi'gera. — Legitminbsce. — 

 The Hatchet Yetch. — A hardy 

 annual, with yellow pea-flowers. 

 It requires no other care than 

 sowing in iAIarch or April, hut 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 C'oronllla Securi- 

 ddca by Linn^us. 



Se'dum. — Crassulacece. — The 

 Stone Crop. — Succulent plants with 

 white, red, or yellow flowers. The 

 genus takes its botanic name of 

 Sedum from the Latin verb sedere, 

 to sit, because in a wild state it 

 appears to be sitting or crouching 

 on the old walls or rocks which 

 form its habitat ; and its English 

 name of Stone Crop alludes to the 

 same habit of growth, as it appears 

 to be growing out of stones, which 

 afford no other crop. The most 

 beautiful species of the genus is 

 decidedly S. Sieholdtii, but it 

 requires a greenhouse to grow it 

 well. 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 rock- 

 work. They are increased by 

 cuttings or dividing the roots. 



Seees. — 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 consi- 

 dered a more exciting operation 

 than reaping. The greater number 

 of seeds of ornamental herbaceous 

 plants are contained in long narrow 



pods called siliques, or silicles, 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 

 Scrophularinoe ; on receptacles, such 

 as the Compositse ; 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 Ranunculuses ; 

 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 at- 

 tached, and the whole should be 

 spread out, each kind by itself, on 

 papers in an airy room or shed, 

 from which rain, and the dii-ect 

 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 

 di-y place, rather airy than close, 

 till wanted for sowing. Seeds pre- 

 served in the seed-vessel, no doubt, 

 make comparatively clumsy pack- 

 ages, to seeds from which eveiy 

 description of husk or covering has 

 been separated ; but in this clumsy 

 state they are found to keep better 

 than when cleaned. Nevertheless, 

 when they are to be sown the follow- 

 ing year, or sent anywhere in a letter, 



