32 THE FLOWER GARDEN COMPANION. 



By a little observation, it will be seen that many seeds 

 perish in their natural soil and climate, by accidental causes, 

 when they are not imbedded in the ground ; and, in some 

 cases, not one of a thousand vegetates, while, if assisted, by 

 being placed in a proper situation, two out of three would 

 grow ; other seeds almost universally grow when they leave 

 the plants in an accidental manner. This fact is, in the first 

 case, exemplified in large seeds, as nuts, and the like. The 

 Hickory and Chesnut are seen to bear bushels of nuts, or 

 seed, which fall from the tree and are dispersed on their 

 natural soil, but rarely vegetate, owing to their not being im- 

 bedded in'the earth deep enough to receive a regular and pro- 

 per nutriment to cause them to grow. Most native annual 

 seeds vegetate freely, their covers being thin and of a small 

 size, by which they are easily imbedded in the earth to a 

 proper depth to cause vegetation to proceed at the proper 

 season. The principal point to be attended to, in making 

 seeds vegetate, is, that they are sown in a soil where they can 

 easily take root, and in a depth corresponding to their size. 

 Small seeds, as the Poppy, and Mignonette, should scarcely 

 be covered ; and larger, as the Balsam, and &ster, may be 

 covered deeper, and so in proportion to their different sizes. 

 In some cases, frost destroys the vegetative principle of seed 

 when it is not well ripened; or placed in a warm, moist situ- 

 ation, where it begins to grow at an unnatural season. But I 

 have never known seed of any kind destroyed by cold when 

 perfectly dry and well ripened. 



The necessary food and stimulants to cause seed to vege- 

 tate are, heat, air, and water. When a proper quantity of 

 these are applied to seed, it will germinate, unless it has lost 

 its proper qualities of germination, by age or other causes de- 

 trimental to it, but so soon as germination takes place, the 

 necessary food and soil must also be present, or it soon per- 

 ishes; many seeds, as Cress, Mustard, and Radish, are grown 

 in flannel, kept continually moist, for the purpose of small salads 

 in the winter ; but although they are so grown, they do not 



