EVILS OP DEEP SOWING. 



229 



Beech, the Horse Chesnut will all sow themselves wherever 

 their seeds can stick to the ground until a coverlet of leaves is. 

 moistened by an April shower and warme'd by an April sun. 

 Neither have such seeds any difficulty in steadying themselves 

 by their roots ; a fang is driven by vital impulse into the earth, 

 as in the Araiicaria, and it is to that, and not to the buried 



Fig. XXXIII. — Qerminatiou of Axaucaria imbricata ; a, the seed after it has inserted its radicle 

 in the soil, the stem leaves just appearing ; b, the same seed at a later period 

 firmly fixed in the groxind by its root. 



neck of the stem, that the seedling trusts for support and 

 nourishment. 



It is not a little remarkable that not only do seeds' germinate 

 unwillingly if buried too deep, but that although they may 

 grow they cannot, even if forest trees, develope with vigour for 

 many years- It is for the purpose of placing seeds in the 

 most favourable condition as regards air, light, and moisture, that 

 when very small they are merely scattered upon the surface of 

 the soil, and covered with a coating of straw or moss, which 

 may be removed when the young seedlings are found to have 

 established themselves. Inverting a garden pot over seeds in 

 the open groimd is practised for the same purpose. In other 

 cases very minute seeds are mixed with sand before they are 

 sown. 



