DRAIN AGE 45 



such as that shaken out of peat, or turfy loam. This prevents the soil 

 from being washed down among the crocks, and thus choking up the 

 spaces between them required for the free passage of water and air. 



NECESSITY OP DRAINAGE 



Too much importance cannot be attached to the proper drainage of 

 soil, whether it is held in a pot or box, or whether it is in the open garden. 

 Unless the water can pass away from the soil readily, it becomes more 

 or less stagnant in it, causes sourness, prevents the circulation of air, 

 lowers the temperature round the roots, and generally interferes with 

 the health of the plant. Under the chapter on soils the question of 

 drainage is more fully treated (see p. 66). Whether boxes, pans, or 

 other receptacles are used, the question of drainage must be first 

 attended to as with flowerpots. 



Having attended to the drainage, the soil, which must be of a nature 

 suitable to the plants to be grown, may be placed over the moss and 

 crocks, and pressed down more or less firmly with the fingers or a 

 small piece of flat board, and brought to within half an inch of the top 

 of the rim as a rule. Where very fine seeds, like those of Begonia, are 

 to be sown the soil may be raised in the centre, forming a shallow dome, 

 but in such cases the soil must be light and easily permeable by 

 water. 



HOW TO sow SEED 



As a general rule, it may be said that seeds of all kinds of plants 

 are sown too thickly, with the natural consequence that the seedlings 

 spring up very close to each other, and if they are not ' pricked out ' or 

 ' thinned out,' as described below, they soon stifle each other, and very 

 few, if any, good plants are obtained. 



Where the seeds are fairly large and easily handled there is no 

 excuse for sowing them thickly. It may take a little longer time to sow 

 them at more or less regular intervals, but the time spent then will be 

 saved, and more than saved, later on when they have germinated. In 

 the event of other work requiring attention, thinly sown seedlings may 

 be allowed to stand longer in the seed-pots without injury than those 

 which have come up too close to each other. 



With tiny seeds it is very difficult to avoid sowing them thickly, 

 and great care must be exercised in handling them. Some of them 

 are so small and so light, that hundreds of them may be blown away 

 and lost for ever by a slight puff of wind, or even a cough. Such seeds 

 therefore should not be sown in a draughty place for this reason. 



