ON RAISING UANUNCUIUSES FROM SEEDS. 127 



considerable number of large well-formed petals, and rich good 

 colours, chiefly prefening the darker, but not to the exclusion of 

 the lighter coloured when their properties answer the foregoing 

 description. Tlie seed should remain on the plant till it has lost 

 its verdure, and becomes bro^vn and dry ; it may then be cut off 

 and spread upon paper, in a dry room, exposed to the sun, 

 that eveiy degree of humidity may be exhaled from it, in which 

 state it should be put into a bag, and preserved in a dry warm 

 room till the time of sowing, otherwise it will be in danger of con- 

 tracting a dampness, which will soon produce a mouklinegs that 

 will infallibly destroy it. 



January is the proper time to sow the seed, and in order to 

 prepare it, it must be separated from the stalks to which it is con- 

 nected in the following manner, viz. : — In the first place it shoiJd 

 be taken out of the bag and spread thin upon paper, or a tea-tray, 

 &c. and placed before a moderate fire till it is just warm and no 

 more ; the seed will then easily scrape oflTby means of a penknife, 

 but great care must be taken to avoid scraping it off in lumps, or 

 suffering any pieces of the stalk, dried petals of the flower, or other 

 cxlriineous matter to be mixed with it, which would create a moul- 

 dincss when sown of very destructive consequence. When the 

 seed is scraped in a proper manner, it will have nnu-h the apj)ear- 

 ance of clear coarse bran, witli a little browai or puqile speck in 

 the centre of each cuticle, which is the kernel. 



When the seed is thus prepared, it should be sown on a shallow 

 frame, provided with glasses similar to those made use of for 

 cucumbers and melons; the soil should have been prcviouslv 

 taken out, three feet deep, and spread thin upon the gi-ound till it 

 has been perfectly frozen througliout, in order to destroy any 

 vermin it may havo contained. When the pit is filled up again 

 with the frozen lum])s of earth, it should remain till the whole 

 ma5s lias thawed and subsided to its pristine bulk, or nearly so ; 

 its surface should then be made perfectly smooth and even, and 

 the seed sown upon it with the utmost regularity, in such quantity 

 as nearly to cover it ; the glasses should be placed over it imme- 

 diately, and the frame kejit closely covered with them for two or 

 three days, till llio scc.l begins to swell and sofliii ; a little light 

 earth should then be sifted u])oii it througli a fine sieve, but not 

 sufficient to cover it,— this should hv npcated once or twice a 



