249 ON RAISING! PLANTS FROM SEEDS. 



autumn or winter, the growth of the plants should not be forced, as 

 such practice tends only to produce weak plants, which rarely survive 

 till the spring. The front stage or upper shelves in the 'greenhouse 

 will be found the best situation for placing autumn or winter sowings : 

 but, taking the months of February, March, and April, as the best 

 and most convenient season for sowing those seeds, the following 

 practice will insure to the European cultivator many species which 

 have hitherto failed, continued scarce, or which have only exhibited 

 poor and stunted specimens, and which, consequently, have been 

 treated with neglect, when, under proper management, they would 

 form suitable and splendid ornaments for the shrubbery, and make 

 more room in the conservatory for less hardy species. 



Having sown the seeds (after steeping as above,) and covered them 

 with earth from a quarter to a half inch deep, and leaving a space 

 for water of half an inch from the edge of the pot, they must be well 

 watered, and placed in a declining or exhausted hot-bed, not plunging 

 them. If the season is so far advanced that the sun's rays are power- 

 ful, the frames should be shaded from its direct influence during the 

 middle of the day. In the earlier stages water need only be applied 

 every third day ; or, at least, so often that, without stagnating, the 

 soil is kept constantly moist ; alternate drought and superabundant 

 moisture retard and check the progress of vegetation. 



As the various species make their appearance, and the cotyledons 

 become fully developed, the pots containing them should be separated 

 from the rest, and placed in other frames, where they will require a 

 more constant supply of water and admission of air, duly encouraging 

 their growth until of a sufficient size for planting out. In this, the 

 experience of the cultivator must guide him ; but it is necessary to 

 observe, that the first planting out should be accomplished while the 

 plants are in a progressive state of growth, shading them if ne- 

 cessary. 



In large establishments, the person intrusted with the management 

 of the seeds is, or at least ought to be, a confidential person, and 

 therefore ought to be put in possession of the lists, and any other 

 written observations which may accompany packets of seeds from 

 abroad. By these, he is enabled to allot to each species the peculiar 

 earth required, of which he must be sometimes ignorant, when he 

 meets with species new to him. 





