6 Raising, acclimatising, and native Habits 



they may arrive in Europe : if this should happen to be in the autumn or 

 winter, the growth of the plants should not be forced, as such practice tends 

 only to produce weak plants, which rarely survive till the spring. The front 

 stage or upper shelves in the green-house will be found the best situation 

 for placing autumn or winter sowings : but, taking the months of February^ 

 March, and April, as the best and most convenient season for sowing those 

 seeds, the following practice will insure to the European cultivator many 

 species which have hitherto failed, continued scarce, or which have only 

 exhibited poor and stunted specimens, and which, consequently, have been 

 treated with neglect, when, under proper management, they would form 

 suitable and splendid ornaments for the shrubbery, and make more room 

 in the conservatory for less hardy species. 



Having sown the seeds (after steeping as above), and covered them with 

 earth from a quarter to a half inch deep, and leaving a space for water of 

 half an inch from the edge of the pot, they must be well watered, and 

 placed in a declining or exhausted hot-bed, not plunging them. If the 

 season is so far advanced that the sun's rays are powerful, the frames 

 should be shaded from its direct influence during the middle of the day.' 

 In the earlier stages water need only be applied every third day ; or, at 

 least, so often that, without stagnating, the soil is kept constantly moist : 

 alternate drought and superabundant moisture retard and check the pro- 

 gress of vegetation. 



As the various species make their appearance, and the cotyledons 

 become fully developed, the pots containing them should be separated 

 from the rest, and placed in other frames, where they will require a more 

 constant supply of water and admission of air, duly encouraging their 

 growth until of a sufficient size for planting out. In this, the experience 

 of the cultivator must guide him ; but it is necessary to observe, that the 

 first planting out should be accomplished while the plants are in a pro- 

 gressive state of growth, shading them if necessary. 



In large establishments, the person intrusted with the management of 

 the seeds is, or at least ought to be, a confidential person, and therefore 

 ought to be put in possession of the lists, and any other written observa- 

 tions which may accompany packets of seeds from abroad. By these, he is 

 enabled to allot to each species the peculiar earth required, of which he 

 must be sometimes ignorant, when he meets with species new to him. 



Whatever soil may be required for the plants, care must be taken not 

 to pulverise it too finely by sifting ; for the tap root in its descent, on meet- 

 ing with any obstruction in its perpendicular direction, receives an impulse 

 approaching to animal instinct, and, rounding the impediment, forms sooner 

 its lateral fibres and roots, which are to become organs of nourishment for 

 the future tree, &c. This will not be generally the case with plants placed 

 in earth sifted as fine as snuff; their state of health is shown by the sickly 

 hue of the leaves, which prematurely fall off; and, upon examination, the 

 root will be found embedded, as it were, in a condensed cement, which all 

 the efforts of nature cannot penetrate. 



As soon as the young plants are established in the pots, they must be 

 removed from the frames, and plunged in prepared beds of decayed bark, 

 formed at or under the level of the natural ground; and occasionally 

 supplied with water until the middle or latter end of August, when they 

 are to be raised and the tap root cut off, if it should have passed the 

 aperture at the bottom of the pot. They may remain above ground until 

 housed for the winter, during which season as much air and as little fire 

 heat as possible should be administered. In a general collection, it is im- 

 possible to allow every species its proper atmospherical temperature, but 

 long confined air and damp are as injurious to vegetable as they are to 

 animal life. There are generally some bright days occurring during the 



