5j/ Lindley's Theory of Horticulture. 439 



these operations are greatly promoted by having the soil dug 

 rough in frosty weather in February ; and the rotten manure, 

 spread on the surface, is of more benefit to the seedlings by being 

 nearer the roots, as this rough dug ground requires only to be 

 pointed shallow with the spade, and does not require digging. If 

 the ground is thus worked in dry weather, and the weather 

 keeps dry a day or two afterwards, the small particles get 

 thoroughly dried, and, unless the rains are more heavy and long 

 continued than usual, the soil will keep open for the most of the 

 season, heat and moisture will be retained, and the air will 

 penetrate freely ; and the difference between this and ground left 

 coarse or worked wet will be so great, that by thrusting the 

 fingers into the former in a tolerably warm day it will feel like a 

 hot-bed, while the other is cold ; the small particles have nar- 

 rower apertures, and consequently retain more moisture by 

 capillary attraction, light is better excluded and air admitted to 

 give off its oxygen and supply nitrogen ; and for seeds difficult to 

 germinate and keep growing, the chances of their doing well 

 are thus manifold increased. If the weather is at all favourable 

 after this (gentle showers and warm weather are the great re- 

 quisites), and if this state of weather succeeds to the above 

 operation, a crop will seldom fail if the seed is good. To en- 

 deavour to insure heat, very small seeds should not be sown till 

 the spring is so far advanced that warm weather may be ex- 

 pected ; and if the weather gets very dry, and the seeds are 

 valuable, they should be shaded through the day, and watered 

 in the evening, as advised in the section Watering. It is not 

 every soil that will suit these operations : for very small seeds, 

 the very lightest quality of soil should be chosen, and even the 

 best of soils should be dug up, and left as rough as possible, in 

 dry frosty weather in February, in order that the expansion of 

 the water by freezing may break up its texture, and make it 

 easier afterwards to separate the soil into small particles. For 

 onion and other larger seeds of the small kinds which push 

 more strongly, the bed will do, though a little rougher ; it is not 

 so apt to skin, and the seeds will come through a deeper 

 covering ; but the ground should in all cases, if possible, be 

 worked dry, and the spadeful well broken to the bottom of the 

 spading: a great many more small apertures are thus made, and 

 the advantage to the growth of plants in soils thus kept open, 

 above those sodden and soured by wet, will be found very 

 great. In a well-prepared bed, for small seeds, half the quantity 

 of seeds will suffice, as will be obvious to any who have had the 

 experience of having one end of the beds of a more stiff sodden 

 texture ; though three times the quantity of seed should be 

 thrown on this, the crop will not be so good. A fresh newly 

 worked surface is indispensable fgr seeds ; as before observed (on 



