76 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



For very broad promenades in large gardens, and for carriage 

 drives in those of a smaller size, Araucaria imhn'cata, Cedriis deodara,^ 

 Picea pinsapo, and Wellingtonia gigantea are the most valuable of 

 all the hardv coniferous trees. The three last mentioned are most 

 preferable. ' The two last mentioned are perhaps the most sym- 

 metrical of the large growing trees in the class to which they 

 belong. 



NOTES OX SEED SOWING. 



BY WILLIAM COLE, 

 Head Gardener, Ealing Park, Middlesex, W. 



jjEED sowing of necessity occupies a large share of atten- 

 tion during the month of March, for nearly all the 

 principal kitchen garden crops and numbers of flower 

 seeds have to be sown. As so much depends upon 

 the way in which seeds are sown, especially those of 

 small size, I shall offer a few remarks bearing on the subject, for 

 the purpose of assisting those amateurs who have not had much 

 experience in work of this kind. The seeds to be sown now may, 

 for convenience, be divided into three classes : — large seeds, such as 

 the peas and beans ;. seeds which are to remain in the beds in which 

 they are sown — as, for example, onions ; and those which are 

 usually sown in beds and transplanted, such as cabbage and lettuce. 

 The sowing of peas and beans is simple enough, but as so many 

 amateurs spoil their crop by sowing so thickly that the plants 

 crowd each other in a manner that renders their proper development 

 impossible, it will do no harm to point out briefly the proper way 

 for sowing the seed to avoid waste, and at the same time secure a 

 good crop. 



Peas, more especially the tall-growing sorts, produce the heaviest 

 crops when sown in rows from twelve to twenty feet apart, as both 

 sides of the rows are fully exposed to the light and air. This has 

 been pointed out in these pages on more than one occasion, and it is 

 not needful to do more than allude to it in passing. In sowing the 

 main crop sorts, it is an excellent plan to sow in trenches about nine 

 inches in width and six inches in depth. The soil to be trenched 

 over to a depth of two feet, and six inches of the subsoil to be 

 thrown out of the bottom of the trench ; for it would never do to 

 remove six inches of the well-pulverized soil from the surface to 

 form the trench. It is good practice to mix with the soil as it is 

 turned over six inches or so of good rotten manure, and when this 

 is done rather more soil must of necessity be removed. When 

 trenches are prepared, it will be simply necessary to sow the seed 

 on the surface and cover with three inches of soil. 



In sowing on the level the drill should be three inches in depth 

 and six inches in width at the bottom. The seed must then be 



