14 , THE NURSERY-MANUAL 



sown on the end of a porous block of wood that is placed in 

 a dish of water, seen in Fig. 3. The block is covered with a 

 bell-glass (Fig. 5), or it may be placed in a propagating-box. 



Even sound and strong seeds should be watered with care. 

 Drenchings usually weaken or destroy them. The earth should 

 be kept merely damp in most cases. To insure comparative 

 dryness in indoor culture, a loose material, as pieces of broken 

 pots or clinkers, should be placed in the bottom of the pot or 

 box to afford drainage. It is to be borne in mind, however, 

 that the seed-bed should be approximately equally moist 

 throughout its depth. The waterings should be copious enough 

 to moisten the soil, top to bottom. A wet or moist surface over 

 a dry substratum should be avoided. Error is common here. 

 It is usually best to apply water with a watering-pot, as water- 

 ing with a hose is likely to wash out the seeds and to pack the 

 earth, and the quantity of water is not so easily regulated. 



At first thought, it would seem that the apparently good 

 results following soaking of seeds are a contradiction of the 

 statements that seeds may be over- watered. But soaking 

 is usually beneficial only when practiced for a comparatively 

 short time. It is not good practice to soak delicate seeds before 

 sowing, and it is of doubtful utility in most other cases, unless 

 it is necessary to soften the integuments of hard-shelled species, 

 as discussed on page 37. The gain in rapidity of germination 

 following soaked, as compared with dry, seeds, is often only 

 apparent, inasmuch as germination actually begins in the 

 soaked seed before the dry samples are sown. The soaked 

 seeds are sown in water rather than in soil, and as conditions 

 are more uniform there, a gain apparently due to soaking may 

 result. In the case of certain strong seeds planted outdoors in 

 cold or uncongenial soil, a preliminary soaking of twelve to 

 twenty-four hours may be beneficial, as it lessens the period 

 which the seeds would otherwise pass in untoward conditions. 

 But soaked seeds, unless of very hardy species, should never 



