34 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



from iron rust, all mixed thoroughly. The pans should be filled 

 to the brim with this soil, which should then be pressed down 

 evenl}- until firm as possible. The seed, washed free from the 

 pulp, is then to be sown thickly but evenly over the surface, and 

 pressed down with a board and covered with about their own 

 thickness of the same compost. Over this a thin layer of fresh 

 sphagnum is put, and a gentle watering with a fine rose completes 

 the work. The pans should be placed in a cold frame and allowed 

 to get one or two hard frosts. Keep them in the frames until 

 about New Year's, when they may be brought into a night tem- 

 perature of from 55° to 60°, and da}' range of 10° higher. They 

 must be watched carefully, watering to keep the soil moist but 

 not saturated. As soon as the seedlings begin to appear the 

 sphagnum should be graduall}' removed and a little fresh compost, 

 like the soil, sifted in among the seedlings. 



When the second rough leaf has expanded, the young plants 

 should be pricked out in fresh pans prepared like the first, S3T- 

 inged slightly and placed in a temperature of 65° at night and 1 0° 

 higher during the day, with slight shade on the glass during bright 

 weather, keeping the air moist by wetting down the floors when 

 necessary, and but slightly syringing the plants. The shade must 

 be removed and the syringing omitted in cloud}' and stormy 

 weather, and it is necessary- to close the house when the sun 

 begins to leave it after noon. 



About mid-summer, carefully attended plants will have become 

 crowded and need to be transplanted into fresh pans, the same 

 treatment as before being continued to the end of August. Then 

 more air and less water should be given, that the plants may be 

 gradually hardened off, after which they may be placed in cold 

 frames with a southern exposure, where the sash may be removed 

 by day and replaced at night. When frost approaches, protect 

 the frames with mats, that the foliage may be kept on the plants 

 to perfect the ripening of the wood. After the leaves drop, 

 cover the frames with four or five inches of meadow ha}', which 

 will protect them through the winter. But on fine days, once or 

 twice each month, the frames should be opened, to dry out any 

 damp or fungus. Early in April make a bed eighteen inches 

 deep, of peat, loam, and sand, well mixed. In this the young 

 plants should be set three or four inches apart, in rows six inches 

 apart. They should be syringed morning and evening during 



