PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 139 



should be well drained by filling them one-third with broken crock 

 and putting over this a covering of sphagnum or the coarse siftings 

 of peat, so that the soil will not work in among the drainage; then 

 put in about two inches of the compost mentioned above, have it 

 well firmed, and give the pans a gentle watering with a fine hose to 

 settle the soil. As soon as the soil is settled the seed can be sown 

 quite thickly but evenly over the surface. They should then be 

 covered with the slightest possible covering — not more than a 

 sixteenth of an inch — after which put over the pans a covering of 

 fine sphagnum, give a gentle syringing and place in a temperature 

 of seventy degrees. After sowing, the seed should on no account 

 be allowed to get dry, but at the same time saturation should be 

 avoided. The seed will usually come up in from two to three weeks 

 and in the meantime the pans will have to be examined occasionally 

 to see if the seed is coming up. As soon as it shows signs of ger- 

 minating the coarsest of the moss should be gradually removed 

 and when the seed is fairly up a slight sifting of fresh soil among 

 the young seedlings will help to strengthen them. As soon as they 

 have made the first rough leaf tl»ey should be pricked off thickly in 

 boxes or pans of fresh soil prepared as for the seed, carefully 

 s\Tinged, and kept growing in a high temperature and moist at- 

 mosphere. Such delicate seedlings as Rhododendrons should 

 at this stage never be transplanted in a shed or room where there is 

 any draft, but always in the close moist atmosphere they are grown 

 in, as the roots are so delicate that only a moment's drying makes 

 them almost worthless. After five or six weeks the plants will 

 have covered the surface of the ground in the boxes, when they will 

 again need transplanting, this time half an inch apart, and other- 

 wise treated the same as before, always being sure to use fresh soil 

 and clean boxes at each transplanting. At this stage if everything 

 has been carefully attended to, they will grow very rapidly and will 

 need transplanting the third time, and if properly cared for they will 

 need to be planted two or more inches apart. 



This frequent transplanting in fresh soil each time keeps the 

 plants from damping and also forms the foundation of a \agorous 

 plant for the future. If Rhododendron seedlings are left long in 

 the seed box or pan they are apt to be attacked by a minute fungus 

 which will often carry off thousands in a night. The best remedy 



