PROPAGATION. 



207 



aeeda of Conifers, merely pressing tliem into the soil 

 so that they aie partly buried. Light appears to he 

 helpful to the germination of seeds of coniferous 

 plants. In germinating, the radicle, or root, is the 

 first to appear, pushing its way into the soO, to he 

 succeeded by the appearance of the leaves from the 

 opposite end of the seed. It is usual to plant 

 large coniferous seeds with their thin end a little 

 way in the soil, leaving the thicker end exposed 

 and pointing upwards, as, for instance, in seeds of 

 Araucarias. 



Fig. 1 illustrates the position of the embryo in the 

 seed of a Pine, and a seedling after it has emerged 



as if broken or in any way injured it not unfre- 

 quently happens that death is the consequence. 

 The manner of germination in Palm-seeds is 

 shown by Figs. 3 

 and i ; the seeds 

 are still attached to 

 the young plants, 

 to which they will 

 continue to afEord 

 nourishment until 

 the plant is well es- 

 tablished, when the 

 seeds will fall away. 



Pig. 3.— Seed of Borassus or IJate-Palm. 



from the seed. The importance of planting the large 

 seeds of Conifers with the thin end downwards is 

 here made apparent. Fig. 2 represents a seedling of 

 Saliaburia (Maiden-hair tree). 



Palms.— Seeds of the cpmmoner kinds of Palms 

 usually germinate freely if sown in pans of soil, and 

 placed on a bottom heat of 80°. Some of the rarer 

 kinds require somewhat special treatment, especially 

 those which grow in swamps. For these it is neces- 

 sary to use an open soil, and to stand the pots 

 in which the seeds are sown in pans of water. Many 

 Palms germinate quickly, but owing to unfavourable 

 conditions the seedlings are weakened or fatally 

 injured before they become strong enough to look 

 after themselves. A regular temperature, both at 

 the roots and overhead, is of special importance, as 

 also is an uniformly moist soil, anything approach- 

 ing drying being harmful to seedling Palms. In 

 removing them from the seed-pans to pot them into 

 separate pots, the roots should be carefully handled, 



Fig. 4— Germination oE ralm-seed. 



Oreliids and ITepentlies.— The majority of 

 Orchids, and the whole of the Nepenthes, are epi- 

 phytal in habit. Their seeds are very small; both 



