192 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



like the beet, are covered with a bard shell, and others 

 still with a tough skin. Both kinds may be soaked in 

 water until the shell or skin is somewhat softened, and by 

 notching into the covering germination is hastened. For 

 broadcast sowing, very small seeds are often mixed with 

 fine soil in order to ensure their being scattered more 

 equally. 



Very often seeds fail to come up because they are sown 

 too deep or because they are sown in very dry earth. 

 Other causes of failure are excessive moisture and 

 either excess or lack of bottom heat. M. Appelius 

 observes that seedlings raised in hot-beds or frames 

 frequently cause disappointment from bad management. 

 Asters, Stocks, Phlox, Petunias, Pansies, etc., do better 

 in a very mild hot-bed, and produce stronger plants 

 less likely to die off. When the dung of a hot-bed has 

 given off its first heat, it begins to absorb moisture 

 from the earth with which it is covered. And as 

 the earth of the bed generally slopes to the south, the 

 greater part of the water given off runs toward the front, 

 and at the back of the bed the earth in which the seeds 

 are sown is often too dry. Hence seeds that vegetate 

 slowly and need constant damp, as Phlox and Pansy, 

 should be sown at the front of the bed, and those that 

 grow more readily at the top or back. The time required 

 for certain seeds to germinate at a temperature of from 

 52° to 65° is as follows (M. Appelius): Garden cress, 2 

 days; spinach, 3; cabbage, turnip, and lettuce, 1; peas, 

 endive, poppy, melons, cucumbers, mustard, 5; lupine, 

 lentil, horseradish, radish, onions (often also in 15 days), 

 leeks, 6; barley, rye, maize, broccoli, beans, beet, 7; wheat, 

 thyme, marjoram, and some kidney beans, 8 ; marrowfat 

 peas, 9; vetch, sugar beet, tobacco, hemp, 10; tomato, 

 sea-kale, scorzonera, carrots, savory, basil, stocks, celery, 

 12 (turnip rooted celery sometimes 20); anise, fennel, 13; 



