50 OPERATIONS OF GARDENING. PART I. 



CHAPTEE III. 



SEEDS SEED-SOWING POT-CULTUKE PLANTING AND TRANS- 

 PL ANTING CUTTINGS LAYERS GOOTEE GRAFTING AND 

 INARCHING BUDDING PRUNING AND BOOT-PRUNING - 

 CONVEYANCE. 



SEEDS. 



THOUGH many of the ornamental plants of our Indian gardens 

 can only be propagated by cuttings or layers, there are at the 

 same time several which may be as well, or better, raised from 

 seed. Flowering annuals and culinary vegetables it is of 

 course impossible to obtain in any other way. 



In a paper sent by Dr. E. Bonavia to the * Journal of the 

 Agri-Horticultural Society/ vol. xiv., p. 190, there are some 

 remarks upon the acclimatization of seeds, which it may be 

 found interesting to refer to. Dr. Bonavia there asserts, " If a 

 plant germinates, grows well, and seeds, there is no sensible 

 reason why it should not be improved in this country as well as 

 anywhere else, provided the conditions of healthy and luxu- 

 riant growth are invariably given. For any one to talk of 

 degeneration of seeds in this country by acclimatization is simple 

 nonsense." That much country-saved seed, however, does be- 

 come degenerate, even when the conditions above mentioned are 

 secured, my own experience has proved to a certainty. This 

 may be often, though not in all cases, owing to the want of 

 protection from the scorching effect of the sun upon it while 

 yet immature, and when the plant that bears it becomes so 

 parched that it can afford it no sustenance. This I have 

 clearly ascertained and provided against, in the case of the 

 Lupin, as noticed further on ; and it is only reasonable to 

 conclude that the same may hold good as regards other plants 

 of a temperate climate that decay soon after they have 

 blossomed on the approach of the Hot season. But admitting 



