Seeds 57 
thirty feet away had sent out fuzzy fibrous roots that had made 
a dozen laps up and down the mellow soil, and out of each 
small cold frame I took at least half a bushel of gluttonous 
roots that had robbed the earth of moisture. Having made 
repeated trials both of hotbeds and cold frames, from which 
I never got one third the plants I should have had, I decided 
to make an experiment of my own. Unless seedlings are 
grown in the open, they are apt to “damp off,” a condition 
where too much heat or moisture weakens the growth, and 
without warning the stem decays and the little plant dies. I 
those a sheltered spot half-way up a bank, remote from trees, 
facing the east in order to get shade from the afternoon sun 
and protection from the northwest winter wind, and here I 
prepared an ordinary bed, without bottom heat or manure, 
the soil being first a layer of grass sods turned root-side up, 
then a mixture a foot deep of loam, leaf mold, wood ashes 
and much sand, which is reserved for a seed-bed and nursery. 
Now some people advise planting perennial seeds in Au- 
gust; but in northern latitudes many of these seeds take a 
month or more to germinate, and there is not sufficient time 
before winter sets in to make a stocky growth that will with- 
stand extremecold. Then, too, the vital forces are stronger in 
spring; there is greater probability of moisture than in August; 
and a seedling that has achieved six months of vigorous growth 
the first year is better prepared for its active duties the second. 
For these reasons I now plant seeds of perennials early in 
May, so that they may have the whole summer for growth. 
Seeds then may take their own time to germinate, a few days, 
weeks, or even a year, if necessary, without the need of dis- 
turbing the bed to rout out grubworms or invading roots. If 
at all crowded, when large enough, the seedlings are sepa- 
rated and reset in the other end of the bed; otherwise, they are 
allowed to remain where they are until they attain a blooming 
