48 



you may expect to see the seed break ground early in 

 April. {Hogg's Supplement, 172.) 



Mr. Maddock says : — 



The seed should remain in the pericarpium, or 

 seed-vessel, in a dry room, till sown in January or 

 February. A hotbed, with frames and glass lights, 

 similar to those made use of for cucumbers and me- 

 lons, being in readiness, provide a box, or boxes, 

 about five or six inches deep, fill them with compost, 

 and gently shake or strike them against the ground, 

 till the earth settles a little ; make the surface per- 

 fectly smooth, and sow the seed with the utmost 

 regularity"; then sift upon it, through a fine wired 

 sieve, a little compost, or decayed willow mould, suffi- 

 cient only just to cover the seed, and place the box in 

 the frame on the surface of the hotbed ; the glasses 

 must be placed over it, and so managed as to pre- 

 serve a moderate and equal degree of warmth, both 

 day and night, but the glasses must be occasionally 

 opened, or raised at the higher end, to admit fresh air, 

 and to suffer the exhalations from the bed to escape, 

 which is a very essential point. The superior advantage 

 this has over the common methods of raising the 

 seed, is, that it forces every live grain into vegetation 

 in about three weeks, if the warmth of the bed is 

 properly kept up ; whereas, by the more usual mode 

 of exposure to the open air, the greater part does 

 not vegetate till the second year; and the weaker 



