TEE AOU ARLUM, «APRIL, 1897. LEG 

members shall be one dollar and twenty 
cents, payable monthly. 

The list of officers is : 
Eugene Smith, President, 
F. C. French, Vice-President, 
Geo. Baehr, Secretary, 
W. Spicer, M. D., Treasurer, 
R. Breetz, Financial Secretary. 
P. C. A. Graupner, Librarian. 
The meetings will be held on every second 
Thursday of the month at the German- 
American School Building, Jersey City 
Heights. 
pet 
At THE Royat PRussIAN seminaries for 
teachers a three-years’ course in the art of 
gardening has been introduced as a regu- 
lar study for all. Gardening in all its 
branches—kitchen, fruit and flower gar- 
dening—is taught theoretically and practi- 
cally. A professor teaches the theory, and 
the laboratory work (work in the garden) 
is conducted by a trained gardener. 
The young women who wish to become 
teachers in public schools have to pass as 
rigid an examination in gardening a3 in 
any other branches of their study. 
The course is highly enjoyed by the 
students. The usefulness of this course is 
manifold. Teachers so trained can not only 
instruct in botany, but are enabled to give 
proper care to the house plants which the 
Prussian authorities order to be grown in 
at least one window of each class-room. It 
facilitates them to intelligently cultivate 
the garden, which is, in nearly every case, 
attached to the school house, and which 
provides many commodities for the teacher. 
Last, not least, the schoolma’am,. who, no 
less than the schoolmaster, is looked upon 
as an authority in all things by the people 
in Germany, will now be able to give cor- 
rect advice in many things relating to this 
useful occupation. 

—— 
UnpER THE Auspicss of the “‘ Triton,” a 
society for the advancement of aquarium 
and terrarium culture, at Berlin, Ger- 
many, a public exhibition of all sorts of live 
stock for marine and fresh water aquari- 
ums, temperate and tropical terrariums, 
tanks, cases and the various supplies and 
apparatus used in connection with this 
scientific pastime, will be held at the Win- 
ter garden of Hotel Central. It will open 
June 12th and continue for ten days. 
Their exhibitions were always very at- 
tractive, presenting rare novelties and new 
ideas. Judging from the premium list now 
before us, this one will eclipse all the others 
the society has held. 
Those of our readers who visit Germany 
this summer should arrange to see this ex- 
hibition. It will be a treat to them. 

SOWING SEEDS. 
Too deep planting is a fruitful cause 
of failure with amateur gardeners. 
The depth of the soil must be pro- 
portioned to the size of the seed. Pe- 
tunia, Primula, etc., require the least 
sprinkling of sandy loam. 
A good general rule is to cover the 
seed only to the thickness of their own 
diameter, yet this would not hold good 
with Sweet Peas, for they grow better 
when planted three inches in depth. 
With very fine seeds it is best to press 
them lightly into the surface of the 
soil with the fingers, then shade from 
the sun three or four days either with 
cloth or newspapers, and sprinkle over 
the coverings, not letting them become 
dry at all, yet not killing the germ of 
the seeds by too much water. 
Hard shelled seeds, like canna, aca- 
clas, cypress vines, etc., will germinate 
much quicker if they are soaked in 
boiling water for an hour or so. ‘Turn 
it upon them boiling hot, and let it 
stand until cool, then plant the seeds. 
Some gardeners prefer to pour boiling 
water upon the surface of the soil pre- 
pared for them, rather than upon the 
seeds. Hither way will succeed, but it 
is essential to soften the horny sub- 
stance which envelops the seeds if you 
desire them to grow. 
—Window Gardening. 
