PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 191 



air, or have their ascending shoots impeded by too much 

 soil above. In all cases, seeds should be sown in fresh- 

 dug soil, that they may have the benefit of the moisture 

 therein, but they should never be put in when the soil is 

 really wet, as the ground will bake and the seed perish. 

 Moist weather in summer is excellent for putting in seeds, 

 provided the ground is still friable. Just before a light 

 rain is the best possible time for sowing turnips and 

 other summer-sown crops. 



Seeds of most kinds should be sown in drills or rows. 

 In these they can be placed at any required depth, while 

 if broadcast, some will be uncovered, and others too 

 deeply buried in the earth. If sown in drills you will 

 know where to look for the young plants, and they can 

 have the soil dug around them, which will enable them to 

 grow much faster, and are much more easily thinned and 

 cultivated. When the seeds are planted, the earth should 

 generally be pressed upon them with a roller, by treading 

 with the feet, in the case of large seeds, and for the 

 smaller by smoothing the surface with the back of a 

 spade, or by walking over them on a board. Pressing the 

 earth upon them will retain the moisture about them, and 

 hasten their vegetation. When they come up, keep them 

 free from weeds, and thin them as hereafter directed in 

 treating of each plant. 



A great deal of the subsequent growth of the plant 

 depends upon their not being sown too thickly, or at any 

 rate upon being thinned properly as soon as the young 

 seedlings appear. A plant raised among a lot of crowded 

 seedlings is very apt to die before it has made its fourth 

 leaf. This seldom happens if the seeds are sown thin, and 

 a little powdered charcoal is mixed with the earth. 



Some seeds, which, like those of the carrot, adhere 

 together, must be rubbed in the hands with dry sand to 

 insure a more equal distribution in the drill. Others, 



