35 



CHAPTER III. 



SOWING SEEDS. PLANTING BULBS AND 



TUBERS. TRANSPLANTING AND WATERING. 



Sowixg Seeds. — The principal points to be 

 attended to in sowing* seeds are, first, to pre- 

 pare the ground, so that the young and tender 

 roots thrown out by the seeds may easily pene- 

 trate into it; secondly, to fix the seeds firmly 

 in the soil ; thirdly, to cover them so as to 

 exclude the light, which impedes vegetation, 

 and to preserve a sufficiency of moisture round 

 them to encourage it; and, fourthly, not to 

 bury them so deeply as either to deprive them 

 of the beneficial influence of the air, or to throw 

 any unnecessary impediments in the way of 

 their ascending shoots. 



The preparation of the soil has been already 

 described in the first chapter, when speaking 

 of digging (see p. 3), and the reasons why it is 

 necessary have been there given ; but why seeds 

 should be firmly embedded in it seems to require 

 explanation. It is well known that gardeners, 

 before they either sow a bed in the kitchen- 

 garden, or a patch of flower-seeds in the flower- 

 garden, generally " firm the ground," as they 

 call it, by beating it well with the back of the 

 spade, or pressing it with the saucer of a flower- 



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