- 



the Ash, th 



MERICAN GARDENER. 77 



lie Ash, the Birch, and the Parsnip, all of which 

 are furnished with so large a portion of wing. Yet 

 all these, if sound, will sink, if put into warm 

 water, with the wet worked a little into the 

 wings first. 



135. There is, however, another way of asc'er- 

 taining this important fact, the soundness, or un- 

 soundness of seed; and that is, by sowing them. 

 If you have a hot-bed ; or, if not, how easy to 

 make one for a hand-glass (see Paragraph 94,) 

 put a hundred seeds, taken as before directed, 

 sow them in a flower-pot, and plunge the pot in 

 the earth, under the glass, in the hot-bed, or hand- 

 glass. Tke climate, under the glass, is warm ; 

 and a very few days will tell you what proportion 

 of your seed is sound. But there is this to be 

 said; that, with strong heat under, and with such 

 complete protection above, seeds, may come, ufi 

 that would not come up in the ojicn ground. 

 There maybe enough of the germinating princi- 

 ple to cause vegetation in a hot-bed, and not 

 enough to cause it in the open air and cold ground. 

 Therefore I incline to the opinion that we should 

 try seeds as our ancestors tried Witches ; not by 

 fire, but by water ; and that, following up their 

 practice, we should reprobate and destroy all 

 that do not readily sink. 



SAVING AND PRESERVING SEED. 



136. This is a most important branch of the 

 Gardener's business. There are rules applicable 

 to particular plants. Those will be given in their 

 proper places. It is my business hers to speak 

 of such as are applicable to all plants. 



7* 



