148 DRESSING SEED BEFORE SOWING 



to the top, and so on until every seed is thoroughly moistened, 

 adding more paraffin if necessary, and in case of excess of this 

 draining off the superfluous by holding the hand over one side, 

 partly inverting the pot. If a little red lead be dusted on and the 

 seed again shaken up, the seed will be faintly coated with the red lead. 

 This was the way we first used the dressing, but lately have only 

 used the paraffin, arid durirg thirty years it has sufficed to protect 



FIG. 96. EFFECT OF DRESSING AND NOT DRESSING BEANS AND PEAS 



BEFORE SOWING. 



P, section of flower-pot : y, cork closing aperture ; z, broad beans. Q, beans which before treatment 

 were infested by bean beetle (Bruchus granarius) ; a, beetles come out of beans as result of dress- 

 ing. R, peas infected before treatment with pea -beetle (Bruchus pisi) : b, beetles that have 

 come out of peas as result of dressing. S, portion of a row of peas untreated before sowing ; 

 c, devastation caused by mice. T, portion of pea-row from seed treated before sowing with 

 paraffin oil : d, plants springing up and undisturbed. (Scale of pot and rows of peas, J in. 

 equals i in. ; beans and peas, natural size.) 



broad beans and peas from the depredations of mice and rats. 

 The seed may be dressed on a large scale by simply placing in a 

 vessel and flooding with paraffin and then placing in a sieve over 

 a larger vessel to drain. The seed should be sown at once, covering 



