CHAP. XVI VILLA GARDENING 95 



qiiired. I like to cover very fine seeds with something whicli does 

 not cake together. Sand or sifted coke-dust, or, better still, char- 

 coal-dust, is a capita] material to cover delicate little seeds with, 

 as it prevents damp lodging round the stems of the little plants 

 after germination has taken place. Where the convenience exists, 

 the very choicest things should be sown in pots or pans and jjlaced 

 in a close frame, and be shaded in the daytime till the seeds 

 germinate. This plan gains time, and the longer a seed remains 

 in the ground without germinating, as a rule the weaker becomes 

 the vital principle which we call life ; and besides, in a frame under 

 the eye of the cultivator, the little plants are exposed to fewer 

 vicissitudes of weather, and are under less danger of attack from 

 insect foes. 



