2J2 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



as the ground is thawed in the spring 

 they should be lifted and potted, when 

 they will make their growth, the ap 

 pearance of which is so useful in hang 

 ing baskets or veranda-boxes. 



Few plants will stand the hot sun, 

 dryness and neglect so well as the 

 sedums. For a border or rockery 

 there is of course no need of coldframe 

 or pots. They can be divided and 

 planted at once in their permanent posi 

 tion. 



S. speciosum, rose pink, good for 

 rockery, border or florists use; S. 

 Sieboldii, pink, very good basket plant; 

 S. pulchellum, pink, dwarf, fine for 

 borders; S. Khodiola, pink, dwarf, fine 

 for borders; S. ternatum, white, vases 

 or baskets; S. Kamtschaticum, yellow, 

 very fine species for baskets or rockery; 

 S. Maximowiczii, yellow, handsome, fine 

 stems with greenish purple leaves. 



There are many species, but the above 

 can be relied on as some of the best. 



SEED SOWING. 



Sowing seed is the only method by 

 which we can get a new individual. A 

 cutting or layer is only a division of 

 the plant, and a graft and bud is not 

 a new plant, it is still the perpetua 

 tion of the same individual with the 

 help of another plant s vigor and 

 strength. Still, cuttings are the only 

 way generally that we can increase a 

 hybrid or variety, and far more stock 

 is increased by cuttings than by seeds. 

 I consider raising plants by seeds 

 a far more delicate and particular un 

 dertaking than our usual method with 

 the cuttings and propagating bed. And 

 just let me say here that within thirty 

 or forty years we have wonderfully 

 simplified the cutting bed. There may 

 be, and is occasionally, the need of a 

 closed case or a bellglass for propa 

 gating some of the hard-wooded plants, 

 but I can remember, and so can thou 

 sands of gardeners, when verbenas and 

 petunias were put under a bellglass. 

 Just fancy how we have progressed 

 in this line. Selling carnation plants 

 in pairs, charging for boxes or baskets 

 and using bellglasses belong to another 

 continent and past age. But this is 

 about seeds, and not cuttings. 



In the article on Asters I gave in 

 detail a method of sowing them or 

 any other seed of considerable size. 

 We are asked repeatedly how deep to 

 sow seeds. There is no rule, and out 

 of doors in the garden you would cover 

 much deeper than you would in the 

 greenhouse. A very good rule would 

 be to cover the seeds their own thick 

 ness, which would be with an aster 

 seed just out of sight, and with a 

 gloxinia so little that it would be 

 impossible to measure it or apply it. 

 Still, we are sure that a grain of wheat 

 or oats will struggle to the surface 

 when buried six inches, and a cabbage 

 seed will send up its leaves to the 

 light when covered an inch. And these 

 depths are a hundred times the diam 

 eters of the seeds. 



However, we are not considering the 

 seeds in the garden, but how to raise 

 them without failure under glass. The 



great Prof. Lindley, in his Introduc 

 tion to Botany,&quot; says: &quot;It is well 

 known that seeds will not germinate 

 in the light.&quot; That we know to be per 

 fect nonsense, for we have all seen 

 many kinds of seed grow in the light. 

 The old seedsman s way of testing 

 seeds was to wrap a piece of wet flan 

 nel around a bottle, and, sticking the 

 seeds in the flannel, keep the bottle 

 full of hot water. Mustard seed will 

 grow in the light and so will an acorn. 

 With seeds larger than those of the 

 aster or verbena there is very little 

 need of failure and no need of cover 

 ing them more than their depth, be 

 cause our seedlings are soon to be 

 handled. But with begonias, calceo 

 larias, gloxinias and other very mi 

 nute seeds the operation is one of great 

 care. Fred L. Atkins gives the 

 correct method in an article on glox 

 inias in the Florist s Eeview, March 

 3, 1898, page 569, all of which is ex 

 cellent. 



press lightly the surface with the bot 

 tom of a clean pot. Let the surface of 

 the soil be an inch below the top of 

 the pan. 



Mr. Atkins recommends covering the 

 surface with green, moist moss and then 

 putting over it a sheet of glass. We 

 sometimes use a piece of wet cheese 

 cloth instead of the moss, which can 

 be dampened with the Scollay sprin 

 kler, and as there is so little evapora 

 tion there will be little need of water, 

 but the glass and moss, or cloth, should 

 be removed once a day to see if they 

 are dry in any spot. 



Directly you notice the seeds germi- 

 ating remove the covering and tilt up 

 one side of the glass, and as the little 

 plants get stronger remove the glass 

 entirely. The Scollay sprinkler will 

 water the surface while the plants are 

 very young, and when stronger you 

 can dip the pans in water and let it 

 quietly run over the surface; that is 

 better than a coarser sprinkling, when 



Selaginella Viticulosa. 



The soil should be well baked or 

 scalded with boiling water to destroy 

 the seeds or spores of any other vege 

 table growth. The pan or pot should 

 be filled to within an inch of the fine 

 soil with crocks and moss. The sur 

 face should be of sifted soil, which 

 should be a soft loam and leaf-mold. 

 The surface should be smooth and 

 even, and to thoroughly wet this be 

 fore sowing you should stand the pan 

 in water. In a few minutes the water 

 will soak up to the surface. Then sow 

 the seeds. 



You are so liable to sow these seeds 

 too thickly that great care must be 

 exercised. The smallest pinch between 

 your finger and thumb and a very 

 slight movement of the same will with 

 care drop the seeds equally distrib 

 uted. Then the smallest quantity of 

 clean sand distributed over the sur 

 face, not enough to hide the color of 

 the soil, but just a snrinkle. Then 



the seeds are well up, and by careful 

 handling they should never be allowed 

 to draw up, the seed pans should be 

 given the fullest light, but never al 

 lowed to get parched by the sun. 



However grown, plants may relish 

 being occasionally on the dry side and 

 then getting soaked. Small seedlings, 

 particularly at the critical time of ger 

 mination, should be kept at a uni- 

 from moisture. Seedpans can be ki-pt 

 in a house 5 or 10 degrees warmer 

 than you would grow the plants, but 

 as soon as well up should be placed 

 in the temperature most suited to the 

 plant when growing. 



All seedlings with hardly an excep 

 tion should be transplanted into other 

 pans or flats as soon as they can be 

 handled; particularly is this the case 

 with those that you have sown thickly 

 A sudden drying will often wilt and 

 destroy many young seedlings, and for- 

 getfulness to shade is often disastrous. 



