14* FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



mice, jays, magpies, and crows, might dig them up 

 and devour them. Besides, they would occupy for 

 a long time, with no profit to any one, the ground in 

 which they had been planted. All these objections 

 are avoided by making a preliminary planting after 

 a method known as stratification, from the Latin 

 word stratum, meaning bed or layer. In a large, 

 deep earthen pan, with holes in its bottom, or in any 

 other suitable receptacle, such as a box, a pot, or a 

 tub, likewise pierced with holes, it is the practice to 

 place first a layer of small pebbles. The holes at 

 the bottom and this layer of pebbles are to give easy 

 access to the air and drain off the excess of water 

 after each irrigation. Next comes a bed of fine 

 sandy soil, then a layer or stratum of seeds arranged 

 side by side, and on top of that a second bed of earth. 

 On this is placed another stratum of seeds, which in 

 its turn is covered with earth; and so the process 

 goes on with alternating layers of seeds and earth 

 until the receptacle is full. Then it is watered and 

 placed in a cellar or a dark shed. All that is neces- 

 sary after this is to keep the contents of pan or tub 

 sufficiently moist by an occasional sprinkling. En- 

 closed thus in a small space easy to watch over, with 

 no danger from marauding animals, and without 

 needlessly occupying ground that might be used for 

 other purposes, the seeds can now take their own 

 time to break their hard shells and can germinate 

 with all the slowness natural to them. 



"When the shells at last crack open and the radicle 

 appears, it is time to proceed to the final planting. 



