SEED-SAVING AND SEED-SOWING. 



"Throughout the earth the gospel preached by nature to man is that of growth. 

 This is the glorious marvel that is ever with us. Seed-grain climbing to waving harvest, 

 acorn springing up to towering oak ; black coal crystallising to diamond, and flint 

 gathering the heat of the earth, till as opal it meets the dawn with tints pure as its own ; 

 while on every lowliest grass blade and leaf is written the story of ascension." 



DOUBTLESS many will look here for instructions as to the 

 general management of seeds, for few things are more per- 

 plexing to the amateur cultivator. How shall I sow my seeds ? 

 or when is the proper time to sow Wallflowers ? and hundreds 

 of similar questions, are annually received by the patient 

 editors of our horticultural journals ; and it was partly to meet 

 cases like these that the present section was written. The 

 management of seeds may be considered under two heads 

 seed-saving and seed-sowing ; and we shall commence with the 

 first-named branch of the subject. 



SEED-SAVING. 



It was formerly necessarily the practice of all horticulturists 

 to save their own seeds, but it is now quite optional whether 

 they do so or not, as the nurseryman includes it as a very im- 

 portant branch of his business ; and it is frequently both better 

 and cheaper to buy seeds than to save them. Most of our 

 principal seedsmen have extensive seed-farms in favourable 

 parts of the country, where great care is taken to keep the sorts 

 or varieties pure by weeding out bad varieties, or " rogues," 

 from the seed-bearing plants. This careful selection of seed- 

 bearing plants is an important matter ; for if plants were left to 

 themselves, and seed gathered indiscriminately, the strain or 

 variety, no matter whether flowering-plants or vegetables, would 

 soon degenerate or revert towards the type or species from 

 which it had been originated. In the case of Cabbages, Broc- 

 coli, Turnips, and other plants which are easily altered by 

 cross -fertilisation, it is necessary to grow the varieties quite 



