CHAP. III. SEED SOWING. 59 



set in ; and, if sown earlier, will lie dormant in the soil till the 

 due time arrives. Celery-seed, again, that is sown in August 

 (as it should be for cultivating the vegetable) will come up 

 but very sparingly, after having been more than a month in the 

 ground; whereas portions of the same seed, reserved till the 

 Cold season and sown then, will come up plentifully in about 

 twelve days. 



Secondly, seed sown in the open ground is often judged to 

 have been bad from its having shown no growth ; whereas the 

 whole sowing, soon after it was made, has been destroyed by 

 vermin. In some localities, where red-ants abound, if Lettuce - 

 seed or the small seed of any of the annuals be sown, in a very 

 few hours scarcely a grain will escape being made away with by 

 these destructive insects. The seedlings of some plants, more- 

 over, particularly those of a succulent nature, such as Beet, 

 Nolana, the Ice-plant, &c., are very liable to be eaten up entirely 

 by sparrows, before even it is observed that the seeds have 

 germinated. 



SEED SOWING. 



The best method of sowing will, to some extent, depend -upon 

 the kind of seed to be sown. Directions for the sowing of seeds 

 of flowering annuals and culinary vegetables will be given, 

 when those plants are respectively treated of. In the meanwhile, 

 the following suggestions in a general way may, perhaps, be 

 found useful. 



Seeds of any size, such as those of Broad Beans, Yellow 

 Lupins, and of very many shrubs and trees, the rinds of which 

 have become hard and tough by keeping, if sown in rather dry 

 soil, will remain a very long time before they germinate. It is 

 an excellent plan to throw seeds of this description in a basin 

 of hot water, pick out those that float, and throw them away as 

 useless ; let the rest steep for twelve hours, and then immediately 

 sow them. 



When pots or seed-pans are used, about the best soil for 

 sowing seeds in, and the one most generally available in this 

 country, will be found, I believe, to consist of one .part leaf- 

 mould, one part common garden-earth, and an eighth part 

 silver-sand, well mixed. A light soil, for covering the seeds 

 with, may be made of equal parts of coarsely-pounded charcoal 



