APRIL 



291 



you want any quantity of one thing, or if the plant is not 

 particularly suited to the soil, it is infinitely better to grow 

 the plants from seed than to buy one or two specimens^ 

 which constantly die. I would always advise beginners 

 to try sowing seeds in little squares in the seed bed. It 

 is only by this process that they can learn what does well 

 from seed and what does not. Seed beds in April should 

 be in different aspects some cool and damp, and some dry 

 and sunny, according to the nature of the plant sown and 

 the country it comes from and left, only weeded, for one 

 or two years. I am quite sure no garden will ever look 

 full and varied all the year round without a great number 

 of plants being grown from seed. It is a later stage of 

 gardening, that is all, just as collecting and saving your 

 own seed is a later stage still. 



I saw the other day in a Suffolk newspaper some 

 observations on seed-sowing under glass. They seemed 

 to me so useful just at this time of year that I copied part 

 of the article : ' Sowing seeds may to the superficial 

 observer seem a simple affair ; yet it is one of the most 

 important operations in gardening. There is a great 

 difference even amongst gardeners in raising plants from 

 seed. One may succeed with all kinds of seeds, providing 

 the seed is good ; whereas another gardener will have 

 the greatest difficulty even in getting ordinary seeds to 

 germinate. Of course, the kind of seeds I mean are choice 

 greenhouse, stove, or Alpine. My experience teaches me 

 that a great many failures are the result of sowing the 

 seed too early in the year. The particular seeds I mean 

 are those sown early in spring, either of plants for 

 conservatory decoration or to bloom in flower beds and 

 borders during the coming summer. Take, for example 

 those charming greenhouse flowers the Cape Primrose 

 (Streptocarpus). Sow this seed in January, and the greatest 

 difficulty is experienced in getting it to germinate ; but if 



u2 



