144 



GENESEE FARMER. 



June. 



Sowins Flower Seeds. 



We extract the folUowing article from the 

 London "Gardeners' (yhrouicle," edited by Pro- 

 fessor LiNDLEY. Complaints are universal, 

 every year, on the subject of the vegetation of 

 flower seeds. Indeed we have, time and again, 

 experienced serious disappointment ourselves, 

 and felt disposed to blame the seedsman, when 

 the fault was our own. Our hot and compara- 

 tively dry climate requires more care in sowing 

 delicate seeds than that of England, and the ;ii- 

 rections given in the following article are equal- 

 ly and even more important to be followed here 

 than there. 



In addition to the mere matter of flower seed 

 sowing, the article below contains suggestions of 

 general practical utility to both tlie Farmer and 

 Gardener, and is worthy of careful considera- 

 tion. — Ed. — 



'' How am' 1 to sow my flower-seeds ?" " I 

 have had some beautiful seeds given to me, but 

 I have no gardener, pnd I don't know what to do 

 with them." " I don't know how it is, but my 

 gardener never can get his seeds to grow. — 

 What shall I do ?" " How deep, sir, loould you 

 advise me to bury my seeds ?" 



Such are the sounds of woe with which our 

 cars are not uncommonly assailed. That infor- 

 mation is much wanted in this matter is most 

 certain ; that endless mistakes follow in the train 

 of all vague directions nobody can doubt ; that 

 seed-sowing does demand some "knack" and 

 practice we readily admit, and therefore we shall 

 on this occasion utter no vox nmbigua, but cut 

 the matter short by saying " Don't bury your 

 seeds at all !" 



We can quite imagine the surprise that this 

 announcement will occasion in some minds ; but 

 we presume to hope that when we have been 

 heard to an end, the recommendation will not be 

 thought so paradoxical as it appeal's to be. 



Let us, in the first place, ask why seeds are 

 buried alive under clods of eartli ? Does Natu' e 

 thus inter them ? And if so, who or what is her 

 grave-digger 1 When the acorn falls it has no 

 power of wriggling into a hole in the ground, 

 and when the Chickweed scatters its tiny seeds, 

 they lie and grow where they fall. What rea- 

 sons, then, can gardeners have for making them- 

 selves seminal sextons ? 



" Reasons !" says the man of learning, " I will 

 give you fifty; firstly, a seed must have darkness 

 and oxide of hydrogen in order to germinate ; 

 under these influences its C combines with the 

 O of the latter, and forms CO2 which is extrica- 

 ted ; then diastase comes into play, and the amy- 

 laceous particles are saccharified ; thirdly" — but 

 hold — enough of that. "Reasons!" says Mr. 

 Polyanthus, the gardener, "Why how are you 

 to keep the birds olF if you do not bury seeds? 

 or the m ce ? or such vermin ? How are you 

 to keep them moist when they first chip the shell ? 



How are they to hold to the soil when they have 

 got a root ? Reasons enough are these, I think." 

 Certainly. But, then, cannot all these objects 

 be secured by other means than burial ? Let us 

 see. 



We want i'xne dry soil. First provide that ; 

 ■get the ground level, and press it gently with a 

 piece of tile or glass. If it contains s'.ones or 

 clods remove them. If your seeds are very small, 

 sift over it a little silver sand, or peat; upon this 

 scatter the seeds thinly. If they are excessively 

 small, mix them before sowing with dry sand or 

 peat in order to separate them ; and again with 

 gentleness press all flat. 



Then provide some coarse Moss — any sort 

 will do, but Bog-moss or Sphagnum is the best — 

 having previously soaked it in boiling water to 

 kill insects or their egg-s. Press it till its wet- 

 ness is exchan- 

 ged for damp- 

 ness, and then, 

 while warm, 

 scatter it loose- 

 ly over the 

 seeds. Press 

 it down, invert 

 over the Moss 



a common garden pot, lay a tile on the hole, and 

 the operation is performed. 



But the little aparatus thus contrived must be 

 watched. In a day or two lift up the pot, raise 

 the Moss, and examine the seeds. If th3 Moss 

 is dry, which is not likely to happen, again damp 

 it with warm water. If all is still, have patience. 

 Thus go on until you find your seeds heginning 

 to grow. Then remove the tile from the Iiole 

 in your pot, and leave them for another day. — 

 At the end of that time you will possibly find 

 that the seeds have grown much more ; if so, 

 take away a ])art of the Moss, so as to give the 

 young things more air and light. The next day, 

 raise the pot on one side, so as to open it to the 

 south. This may be done with a stone placed 

 beneath its front edge ; but do not raise it all 

 round, because if you do the strong current of 

 air setting over your seedlings and through the 

 hole in the pot will chill them. As soon as 

 you find the seedlings green and plump and 

 stout, the Moss may be entirely removed and the 

 pot raised higher. And very soon that, too, may 

 be quite dispensed with, unless there are frosts 

 at night, or bitter dry easterly winds by day. In 

 the former case, replace the pot every night and 

 take it off" again in the morning; in the latter, 

 it is wise to place a little screen between the 

 plants and the wind. For this purpose a pantile 

 is a capital thing, but a piece of board, or any 

 such matter, will do. 



In this way you secure all that you want in 

 order to get a hardy seed to grow : — Darkness, 

 moisture, air, warmth ; and afterwards moisture, 

 air, light, and shelter. 



