CHAPTER II. 



LEADING PRINCIPLES OF THE GROWTH OF TREES. 



THE formation of a large tree from a minute seed, is one of the 

 most interesting and wonderful occurrences in nature. It is import- 

 ant that the fruit culturist should so understand the process as to 

 know what will hasten it on one hand, or retard it on the other. By 

 understanding these principles, the necessary rules will be greatly 

 simplified, and the directions rendered more clear and obvious. 



GERMINATION. 



The first movement of the seed towards forming a new plant is 

 termed germination. After the plant is formed, and its growth is 

 carried on through the agency of its leaves, the process is termed 

 vegetation; the latter immediately following the former. 



To produce germination, seeds require heat, moisture, and air, but 

 not light. It will be observed that these three requisites are present 

 when seeds are slightly buried in moist, warm, mellow earth. Heat, 

 although essential to all seeds, varies in the degree required by dif- 

 ferent species. The chickweed, for instance, will vegetate nearly 

 down to the freezing-point ; while tropical or hot-house plants often 

 need a blood heat. Nearly every person has seen proofs of the 

 necessity of moisture for the germination of seeds indicated by the 

 practice of watering newly-sown beds. The florist is aware that 

 minute seed, which cannot be planted deep, as the portulacca, must 

 be kept moist by a thin covering or shading. It is often requisite to 

 bury seeds to a considerable depth, in order to secure a proper 

 degree of moisture to start them. On the other hand, they will 

 sprout on the surface unburied, if kept constantly showered. 



The third requisite, air, is an important one. Seeds may be kept 

 dormant a long time by deep burying. Nurserymen have often 

 retained the vitality of peach-stones for a year or two, by burying 

 them a foot or more in compact earth. Other seed might doubtless 

 be kept for a time in the same way. Planting too deep is often fata! 



