70 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAKDENING, 



tate. Cabtage-seeds have been known to geiminate 

 after being kept for ten years, and Kidney Beans 

 after five years. As above stated, the conditions 

 ■which afiect the duration of life in seeds are too often 

 beyond control, or altogether hidden from us. 



It has been already pointed out that under certain 

 conditions some seeds will remain dormant in the 

 ground for a long time without losing their vitality ; 

 in like manner seeds will sometimes He for years with- 

 out commencing to grow, even when the conditions 

 under which they are placed are what we consider 

 favourable to germination. Lindley mentions vai-ious 

 instances of this, all tending to show how necessary it 

 is to have patience in the management of seeds, and 

 more especially when the age of the seeds is unknown. 

 Old seeds always germinate more slowly than young 

 ones ; the hardening of the testa or seed-coats thiough 

 long exposure, no doubt, accounting to some extent 

 for their tardiness in starting. By steeping in warm 

 water or by removing the outer shell from seeds, 

 germination, as shown above, is much forwarded. 

 Fruits of Hawthorns, Hollies, Birch, and other hardy 

 berry-bearing trees are generally subjected to a 

 softening process before their seeds are sown. This 

 process is what is termed the " rot-heap," and is 

 managed as foUows : — The fruits are gathered in the' 

 autumn as soon as ripe, and are thrown in heaps. A 

 quantity of sand, ashes, or light soil is mixed up with 

 them by frequently turning them; they are then 

 buried in a pit, or placed in heaps and covered with 

 turf, where they remain till the following spring. 

 The whole is then prepared for sowing by first partly 

 drying and then sifting. In this manner the seeds 

 are separated, whilst the warmth and moisture in 

 which they were stored through the winter has 

 softened the hard shell of the seeds, and, no doubt, has 

 excited the germinative process. 



Seeds of plants belonging to the Eanunculus and 

 Primrose families sometimes remain in the ground for 

 several yeara without moving. Mr. Anderson Henry 

 states that some seeds of Banunculm Zt/nlH, the Shep- 

 herd's LUy, sown by him in 1878 did not germinate 

 tUl 1881 ; and in the case of seeds of a second species 

 of Rammeuliis, germination took place four years and 

 a half afterwards. The same extraordinary slowness 

 has often been observed in seeds sown at Kew. How 

 far this slowness to vegetate may be considered as 

 natural to the plants, or whether it is due to some 

 untoward influence to which the seeds had been 

 subjected, is not clear. Seeds of Ranunculus Lyalli 

 vegetated in about eleven months at Kew. I suspect 

 that with most of those plants the seeds of which 

 usually remain in the soil a long time before growing, 

 it would be bettor to sow the seeds immediately on 

 their becoming ripe. Mr. A. Henry found Frimula 

 Japonica and Gentians slow to germinate, but when 



the seeds of these plants ai-e gathered and sown as 

 soon as ripe, they generally germinate in a few weeks. 

 It is said that Colchicum-seeds generally take over 

 two years to start into growth. It is always best 

 to select the largest and heaviest seeds in aU cases 

 where robustness of growth is the first aim ; smaller 

 seeds being slower to get away, and containing less 

 vital force than larger ones of the same kind. It is- 

 also supposed that large seeds retain life for a longer 

 time than smaller ones do. 



In concluding these general remarks, we would 

 point to the great importance of careful harvesting 

 and drying, before storing the seeds ; to the necessity 

 for perfect dryness and a regular and medium tem- 

 perature as long as the seeds are kept out of the 

 , ground ; and, at least in the case of valuable seeds, 

 to the wisdom of allowing the seeds to remain in the 

 soil till all hope of their germinating is past. 



THE ORCHARD-HOUSE. 



Bt William Coleman. 



ALTHOUGH half a century has hardly passed 

 aWay since the late Mr. Elvers commenced the 

 culture of all kinds of stone-fruit trees, Apples, Pears, 

 and Pigs, in pots under glass, his prediction that 

 every moderate-sized garden in the United Kingdom 

 would in a few years have its orchard-house has been 

 almost verified. When at the outset the roughly and 

 cheaply-built houses or glazed sheds were strongly 

 recommended to the masses, the pomological pioneer 

 did not presume to say they would upset existing ar- 

 rangements for forcing each kind of fruit separately, 

 by means of which the wealthy could be supplied 

 with the best of everj'thing in its season. Neither 

 was he romancing when he said, the day was not 

 distant when Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots, at 

 present far beyond the i-each of the merchant's clerk, 

 would be to him familiar things, and thousands of little 

 suburban gardens would have their cheap orchard- 

 houses, in which the tired tradesman would feel re- 

 freshed in the pleasant evenings of summer, by the 

 mere act of pinching off the young , and tender 

 shoots of his Peach-trees, and inhaling the sweet 

 perfume. His sons now live, not only to see all 

 their father predicted grow into existence, but to 

 bear testimony to the fact that those sceptics who 

 prophesied that orchard-houses would never lower 

 the ijrice of fruit in the market, are now building 

 and stocking substantial gigantic houses all over the 

 country. Not to supersede, but to supplement their 

 Peach, Plum, Fig, and Cherry houses ; not to do 

 away with their leviathan Royal Georges and other 

 standard kinds of fruit-trees, but to enable them to 



