8 BEGINNER'S BOOK OF GARDENING 



been previously firmed by means of the back of a spade. 

 A very little fine soil should then be sifted over them 

 through a sieve. This amount of soil should be only 

 sufficient just to cover the seeds. The soil should be 

 well watered before the seeds are sown, and evaporation 

 should be checked by placing over the seed-bed a lath 

 or brush screen. A lath-screen consists of a square 

 frame composed of ordinary laths nailed to one another 

 at right angles, so as to form a kind of chess-board, the 

 interstices between the laths being equal in width to 

 the laths themselves. This screen is laid horizontally 

 upon a light framework three or four inches above the 

 seed-bed. It has the great merit of providing shade 

 and preventing evaporation, while yet allowing free 

 ventilation. A bush- or brush-screen consists of a frame 

 which is covered with twiggy boughs ; this also is placed 

 a few inches above the seeds. In the case of larger 

 seeds it is a good general rule to cover them with about 

 twice their own thickness of soil. Large seeds are 

 naturally better able to look after themselves than tiny 

 seeds, which contain so small a store of nourishment for 

 the infant plant. At the same time too much care 

 cannot be exercised in providing a fine and well-drained 

 seed-bed, and some protection from excessive evapora- 

 tion, in the case of large as well as small seeds. Only 

 experience will enable the gardener accurately to gauge 

 the correct amount of moisture necessary for individual 

 seeds and seedlings, for drought and excessive moisture 

 are the two principal dangers with which seedlings have 

 to contend. 



In connection with the subjects of moisture and venti- 

 lation, must be mentioned that terrible scourge known as 

 " damping off." This is one of the most common ail- 

 ments of young seedlings. Close to the surface of the 

 soil the stem of the young plant becomes brown and 

 constricted and soon rots, entailing the death of the 



