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seeds tuni black. I do not wait until the seed-vessel bursts, as 

 many seeds in that case fall to the ground and are lost, but take 

 them off when mature with a portion of the stem, which I insert 

 in the earth, in a seed-pot or pan provided for their reception. I 

 place them in a north aspect, and the seeds in due season are shed 

 as it were naturally into the pot of earth. I allow the seeds to harden 

 for a month on the surface before covering them with half an inch 

 depth of sandy soil. The soil should be two-thirds pure loam and 

 one-third sharp sand : the drainage composed of rough and turfy 

 soil. In October, I plunged the seed-pots in a cold frame facing the 

 south ; and the young plants begin to appear in December and 

 throughout the winter, according to their kinds and the mildness of 

 the weather. It is needful, in their earliest stages, to look well after 

 slugs and snails. 



" The seedlings should be protected from frosts, but should have 

 abundance of air or they will soon draw. As soon as they will stand 

 exposure, plunge the pots under some sheltered wall or hedge, and 

 they will form their first bulbs. Let them become dry in summer, 

 and if it be a wet season turn the pots on their side until the time for 

 them to grow again. Let them remain in the seed-pots, and top dress 

 them with fresh loamy soil. When the bulbs are two years old, pre- 

 pare, in an open airy situation, a bed of good loam mixed with sharp 

 sand ; prepare the bed as for tulips, &c., covering the entire surface 

 with sand, in which the bulbs should be embedded : plant the roots 

 in rows three inches apart, and each root one inch apart in the row. 

 They will stand three years in this bed, whence they may be finally 

 removed into a fresh bed of similar soil to flower : a few will flower 

 the fifth year, but the greater portion not until the seventh. I do not 

 take up the flowering roots oftener than every third season, but top dress 

 the beds every autumn. A little thoroughly decayed hot-bed manure 

 mixed with the surface soil aids them to produce fine flowers, but it 

 must be well decomposed or it will do harm. The beds should be 

 well drained, the prepared soil at least two feet deep, and the situa- 

 tion sheltered from north and east winds, which do much damage to 

 the flowers." 



I consider that botanists in their experiments of raising plants from 

 seed, with a view of eliciting facts js to their specific identity or 

 otherwise, would do well to take pattern by the florists in this pur- 

 suit. Nothing can exceed the care and patience bestowed on the 

 subject by these gentlemen, and the facts they record are abundantly 

 worthy of preservation. From the above extract, among other useful 



