ON SEEDS AND SEED SOWING 



etc. are put an inch or more deep, tiny seeds are scarcely, 

 if at all, covered. The very small seeds are more easily 

 killed than the large or comparatively large ones. In 

 sowing minute seeds, such as those of Mignonette, Shirley 

 Poppy, Virginian Stock, and many more, the seeds are 

 merely scattered on the surface soil, and the latter is 

 lightly raked over. This has the effect of giving a slight 

 soil covering. In hot, dry weather the seeds should be 

 moistened through a syringe morning and evening, and 

 shade from a newspaper or piece of canvas, raised 2 or 

 3 inches above the ground by sticks, is most grateful to 

 them, and prevents the ground becoming hard. There 

 is little doubt that the reason many seeds fail to come 

 up is owing to the surface soil having been allowed to 

 get hard and dry. Continued moisture is essential to 

 their germination. Seeds such as those of Scarlet Flax, 

 Delphinium, Hollyhock and all others that may be 

 classed as seeds of average size are suited, as a rule, by 

 a covering of a quarter of an inch or so of soil. 



Before seed sowing should come the preparation of 

 the soil, which is accomplished by first digging, say, 12 

 inches deep, then forking over to break down large lumps, 

 and finally raking. When sowing seeds of crops on a 

 large area, rolling, too, becomes necessary as a means 

 of breaking down lumps and making the land firm. But 

 as a rule the rake bears the most important part in 

 making the surface suitable for garden seeds. If the 

 land has been well stirred, broken up by spade and fork, 



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