Chapter EIGHT 



RAISING house-plants from seed is a 

 most fascinating work, and it is also 

 the most economical way of obtaining 

 a number of choice plants, as a packet 

 of seeds may be purchased for the 

 price of a single plant. A package of Geranium seed 

 may give a dozen plants, while a packet of Gloxinias 

 or Cinerarias may give a hundred or more the fine 

 seed germinating more freely than the large. 



Mixed seeds also give a variety, no two plants being 

 identical in bloom, and, what is most important, seed- 

 lings always bloom, while plants from cuttings are 

 often stubborn in this respect and sometimes refuse 

 to bloom at all, owing probably to the check received 

 at propagation. A cutting taken from a vigorous 

 plant, rooting quickly, and continuing to grow, is 

 quite certain to bloom while the reverse is the case 

 with one slow to root and slow to start into growth 

 after rooting. The seedling, meeting with no check, 

 blossoms in the natural course, and it has the ad- 



6* 



