Tke Rose Garden. 



CHAPTER IX. 



On Cleaning and Sowing the Seed, and the Subsequent 

 Treatment of the Seedlings. 



IN the last chapter we left the seeds ready for gathering prior to Winter, that drear 

 season at which the Flower Garden presents but few attractions. Its denizens, 

 stripped of their gay attire, are sunk in repose ; often bound fast in icy chains ; all 

 vegetation sharing in one general imprisonment, waiting for the balmy breath of 

 spring to release them from their slumbers, to burst forth endued with fresh life and 

 vigour. Let us now si*:ak of the cleaning and sowing of the seed. 



Wh<-n removing the seed-pods from the plants on which they have grown, the 



> should be rubbed out between the hands previous to sowing. Some pods that 



are hard, or were not fully ripened when gathered, will require stronger measures to 



Iflte them. These may be rubbed through a coarse wire sieve, the hard coating 



ol the seeds being strong enough to protect them from injury in the process ; and if 



any are found proof against this they may be crushed beneath a rolling-pin or slight 



taps <>f the hammer. 



So soon as the seeds are broken up they should be laid out in the sun and air to 

 dry, and when Milfi< i ntly dried it is easy to rid them of their pulp and external 

 covering by sifting and winnowing them in pans. I am aware that some growers 

 preli i | /.! I in ,iu.i\ tin- fresh-gathered seed-pods in damp earth, not sowing them till 

 Man 1 1 "i even November of the following year. If this practice is adopted care 

 k.iiM l> i.il < ii ili.it they are not placed in bulk, or they may become heated and 

 tin :< mi destroyed, I am, however, in favour of sowing as soon as gathered, or at 

 .u i \ time afterwards, \\ ln-n tin- ground is in fair condition, up to the end of March; the 

 eedlingl \\ill tl"-n l>n-,ik tlinui:;h the ground in Spring and Summer, and onwards 

 even i" ili<- lecond Spring, Tin- seeds then are sufficiently clean for sowing ; and in 

 u li.it 111. nun i -.kill tin-. IK- pei formed ? 



I k Fren< \\ growers IOV />/-/Ar//v//r in the open ground, either in beds or in drills 

 l>\ the llde "i \\.ilU.s; Imt M. Hardy, late of the Jardin du Luxembourg, preferred 



