RAISING PERENNIALS FROM SEED 281 



England. There is no strict rule in such matters; and 

 sometimes a plant that has never even formed seed 

 before will suddenly bear it and ripen it profusely. 

 Then the gardener, if he is watchful, may get a large 

 stock of a rare plant for nothing except his pains. 

 It is difficult to give precise directions for the treat- 

 ment of capricious seed, or of seedlings that are hard 

 to bring up. Different plants need different treatment 

 at all periods of their life; and general principles, if 

 easy to lay down, are hard to apply. Watering is 

 the most important point, and the keeping of the soil 

 fresh and sweet. Boxes or pans that are to contain 

 seedlings impatient of stagnant moisture should be 

 well drained, but in such a case the soil should be of 

 such a nature that it will not dry very quickly. It 

 is, therefore, a good plan to use a compost retentive 

 of moisture, such as rough peat and fibrous loam and 

 leaf mould; but the surface, as in all seed beds, must 

 be much finer, and should consist of well-sifted soil 

 mixed with silver sand. In this the seed can be easily 

 covered and will germinate readily, and as the seed- 

 lings grow they will throw down their roots into 

 the richer and rougher soil below. Gardeners often 

 take great trouble to make all the soil in their seed 

 boxes very fine, with the result that it holds no mois- 

 ture, and that the seeds do not germinate, or that the 

 seedlings wither up in their first infancy. It is a good 

 plan to cover up seed boxes with a sheet of glass or 

 even a newspaper, to prevent evaporation. But this 

 must be removed soon after the seeds have germinated. 



