292 MORE POT-POURRI 



sown in April, it will germinate as easily as Lobelia. But 

 perhaps giving choice seeds daily nay, I might almost say 

 hourly attention is the most important point of all. The 

 seed may be sown at the proper time and be placed in a 

 suitable place ; the soil may be everything to be desired ; 

 in fact, everything used pots, pans, boxes, and drainage 

 may be all right, yet if they do not receive proper attention 

 for days, weeks, and months before the seed grows, and 

 after as the case may be, failure will surely follow such 

 neglect. This attention means keeping the compost in 

 that happy condition which is neither wet nor yet too 

 dry/ 



Sometimes it is a help to put a little wet Sphagnum 

 moss on the top of the pot under the piece of glass, or the 

 pot may be covered with paper. The great thing to aim 

 at with all seeds, whether large or small, is to try to keep 

 the soil sufficiently moist, without having to water them 

 until they begin to grow. This is difficult, well-nigh 

 impossible, with those seeds which are a long time in 

 the soil before they germinate. Still, this is what should 

 be aimed at. Once they are up, it is necessary to water 

 very gently. A good way is to put a small piece of 

 sponge in the hole at the bottom of a flower -pot, and then 

 fill the pot with water of the same temperature as the 

 greenhouse, and move it about so that the water dribbles 

 gently through. With large seeds it is always a good plan 

 to soak them twenty-four hours in tepid water before 

 sowing them. An excellent way of handling very small 

 seedlings is to take a little bit of bamboo, bend it in two 

 like a pair of tweezers, and lay the seedlings on a piece 

 of paper ; it is then quite easy to handle the smallest 

 seedlings without injury. 



The three or four weeks of severe frosty weather in 

 March has made us very short of vegetables. 1 never 

 buy when I have not guests, as feeling the pinch makes 



