TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE. 5? 



ceived all kinds of plants from a dozen different growers 

 in different parts of the country, hardly two of whom use 

 the same soil, but all grow them well. So in the vicinity 

 of New York, where the soil is varied at the different 

 points, as much as soil can be ; yet we see growers using 

 very different compounds with equally good results, show- 

 ing, as has long ago been satisfactory to me, that special 

 soils have less to do with the healthy growth of plants than 

 the proper application of temperature and moisture. In 

 cities having paved streets, we find the sweepings to be 

 a most valuable ingredient, which may be used to advan- 

 tage in lieu of refuse hops, manure or leaf-mould. 



CHAPTER X. 

 TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE. 



Many young gardeners and amateurs flounder befogged, 

 attributing failure of crops in the garden, or want of 

 health of plants in the greenhouse, to bad seeds, uncon- 

 genial soil or fertilizers, when it is much of tener the case 

 that the cause is of a totally different nature, and entirely 

 within their control. A temperature at which seeds are 

 sown and plants grown must be congenial to the nature 

 of the kind, else success cannot follow. In a temperature 

 at which a Portulaca will vigorously germinate, a Pansy 

 seed would lie dormant, or, at least, show a sickly exist- 

 ence, and vice versa. Nearly half of the Corn and Lima 

 Beans sown annually, perish by being sown from two to 

 three weeks too early, by the impatience of our embryo 

 horticulturists. On the other hand, the cold-blooded 

 Carrot or Turnip seed all but refuse to germinate in the 

 sultry days of July. Seeds of Calceolarias, Cinerarias 

 and Chinese Primroses will germinate more freely if sown 



