72 THE BOOK OF THE CARNATION 



and preserving the seeds intact till required for sowing 

 the following spring. In selecting flowers the more 

 successful raisers do not favour the largest blooms, but 

 prefer side ones of perfect form. Those produced on 

 drooping stems should be rejected, and plants alone of 

 erect growth and of robust though not over-vigorous 

 habit chosen for seed-bearers. 



Seeds are sown from February, and with every pros- 

 pect of success during April and May, but late sowing 

 is naturally productive of plants that are less floriferous 

 than those obtained from seeds sown early. I prefer 

 ordinary cutting boxes two feet by eighteen inches by 

 four inches in depth, to pots in which the soil becomes 

 dry more quickly, and requires watering more frequently, 

 for seedling raising. Soil should be rather light ; loam, the 

 siftings of orchid peat, and sand to preserve it open, form- 

 ing a good compost, leaf-mould being substituted for peat 

 where the latter is not to be had. Compress the soil 

 only to a slight extent, and in sowing allow each seed 

 about a quarter of an inch space ; the seeds may of course 

 be sown more thickly, but there is always a danger of loss 

 from thick sowing, while under ordinary circumstances 

 the box space required is not so great as to induce one to 

 save on that and court loss in the result. The seeds if 

 covered one-eighth of an inch will germinate regularly. 

 To this end it is an aid to cover the boxes with a sheet of 

 glass, blurring it with whitewash to exclude light. Place 

 the seed-receptacles in a structure where a temperature of 

 fifty to sixty degrees is maintained, and if water is required, 

 dip the box with its contents for a brief moment in a tank 

 of water, when sufficient moisture will be extracted to 

 moisten all the soil. When germination has been effected, 

 remove the glass and give the seedlings access to light and 

 air, and while still small transplant them into other boxes 

 prepared with a compost of a like nature, setting the seed- 

 lings at an inch apart, and compressing the soil somewhat 



