42 PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS 



increasing most plants, but the process is often too slow to be regarded 

 with satisfaction by the gardener. He therefore also has recourse to 

 the other methods of propagation described below. 



I. Propagation by Seeds 



As just stated above, most plants growing in a natural state are 

 increased by seeds. From a garden point of view, however, it is not 

 always advisable to adopt this means, although many hundreds of plants 

 may be very easily raised thereby. When it is desired to keep any 

 particular plant true to its variety — that is, so that the progeny may 

 faithfully reproduce all the features of the parent, in regard to habit, 

 foliage, flowers, colour, fruit, flavour &c. — it is not wise to increase or 

 propagate such a plant by means of seeds. For this reason : that pollen 

 from the flowers of an inferior, or at least undesirable, variety may have 

 fertilised the pistils in the flowers of the plant which it is desired to 

 propagate. The characters of the original variety would in this way be 

 tampered with, and the seedlings, although very similar to it, may have 

 inherited some of the undesirable qualities of the strange parent, and 

 lost the most desirable ones of the other. 



It is therefore almost impossible for any seed to reproduce all the 

 characters and qualities of its mother parent with absolute fidelity. 

 Where little or no importance is attached to this fact, seeds will be 

 found one of the readiest methods by which large numbers of plants 

 may be produced. Plants raised from seed offer immense variety, 

 and where novelties are required either as hybrids or crosses (see p. 37) 

 it is a most interesting occupation raising them from seeds. 



SEED SOWING 



The best time for sowing seed is either in the autumn when 

 thoroughly ripe, or in spring, when the earth's natural heat is favour- 

 able to germination. In a state of nature, as soon as seeds are ripe 

 they fall to the ground and perhaps remain dormant during the 

 winter, or else germinate sufficiently early to be strong enough to 

 withstand the rigours of winter. All our annual weeds and a good many 

 of our choice hardiest annuals if left alone would reproduce themselves 

 in this way. And so would the hardy biennials and perennials, as 

 witness the Evening Primrose, Horse Chestnut, Ash, Oak, &c. From 

 a gardening point of view, however, it is found convenient to make 

 spring the chief seed-sowing season, as there are so many other matters 

 to attend to in the autumn. Other periods, when preferable for any 

 particular plant, will be found noted in the following pages. 



