226 



THE GARDENEK'S ASSISTANT. 



inasmuch as the hoe, or other implement, can be 

 freely worked; whilst in the case of broadcast 

 sowing no full stroke can be made; for even 

 supposing the plants were to be generally 1 foot 

 apart, every draw or stroke of the hoe must be 

 limited to less than 1 foot along the surface. On 

 the other hand, small plants with spreading roots 

 are doubtless best disposed promiscuously over 

 the surface, unless the rows are made very little 

 distant from each other, or not farther than the 

 roots of the plants extend. With regard to tap- 

 rooted plants — Carrots, for instance — the dis- 

 tance between the rows should be regulated, not 

 so much by the horizontal extension of the 

 roots, as by the space which the tops require, 

 in order to have sufficient light and air. 



Seeds will vegetate with due supplies of heat 

 and moisture, but a fertile soil is essential for 

 further progress : thus, the seeds of many plants 

 do not vegetate well in strong loam, although 

 the plants afterwards flourish in soil of that 

 description. In a natural state of the ground, 

 seeds rarely fall upon bare loam, but for the 

 most part among the decayed or decaying vege- 

 table matter with which it is covered; in this 

 the seeds vegetate, and the young plants are 

 nourished by it until they acquire strength to 

 enable them to penetrate the loam. 



Seeds sown in patches in borders should be 

 scattered thinly, and the seedlings should be 

 thinned in time. It is much better to have a 

 dozen strong healthy plants on a square yard 

 than twice that number of weaklings. Annuals 

 grown in this way are too often spoilt for want 

 of judicious early thinning. Early-flowering 

 hardy annuals should be sown in the autumn 

 (November). Seeds of tender plants must not 

 be sown till March or April if they are to be 

 placed in the open ground. It is, however, 

 preferable to sow such seeds in boxes or frames 

 in February, and transplant the seedlings into 

 the borders when all danger from cold is 

 passed. 



For seeds of indoor plants generally, February 

 is the most suitable time to sow. In large 

 establishments it is the practice to cease all 

 sowing from November till February, except in 

 cases where the vitality of the seeds would be 

 endangered by the delay. Seeds which ger- 

 minate slowly, such as Palms, Crinums, Pan- 

 danus, Aroids, Acacias, may be sown as soon as 

 received. Palm seeds require a temperature of 

 80° to start them in a reasonable time. Some 

 nurserymen, who raise large quantities of young 

 palms for market, sow them in pans or boxes, 

 which are placed upon the hot-water pipes, and 



kept well watered till the plumules appear above 

 the soil. Or a hot- water tank is covered with 

 slates, upon which a few inches of soil is placed, 

 and in this the seeds are thickly sown. Tro- 

 pical aquatic plants are raised from seeds sown 

 in pots submerged in a tank of water heated to 

 from 70° to 80°. Victoria regia will not ger- 

 minate in a lower temperature than 85°. All 

 large seeds of tropical plants, say those from the 

 size of peas upwards, should be placed over strong 

 bottom heat till they germinate. Fine seeds 

 should be covered with a flat pane of glass and 

 placed on a shelf close to the roof glass in a 

 warm house. Very fine seeds must not be 

 watered overhead, but the water must be allowed 

 to soak up from below. The three essentials 

 to germination are heat, air, and moisture; a 

 fourth, light, is needed as soon as the plumule 

 is above the soil; but it does not matter whether 

 a seed be in the light or in darkness so far as 

 actual germination is concerned. 



The very fine seeds of such plants as Orchids, 

 Nepenthes, ^Eschynanthus, Bromeliads, Sarra- 

 cenias, and Darlingtonia require to be sown on 

 finely -chopped living sphagnum moss. Good 

 results have also been obtained by using saw- 

 dust instead of moss, and very fibrous turves of 

 peat have been known to serve for all except 

 very delicate Orchids. Experts in Orchid breed- 

 ing sow the seeds upon the surface of the 

 compost in which an Orchid is growing, and 

 it is supposed that better results are obtained 

 in this way than when the seeds are sown 

 in specially prepared pans. Disas have been 

 raised from seeds ripened and sown in one 

 year, and the seedlings have flowered when 

 eighteen months old. Cattleyas average about 

 seven years, Phaius and Calanthe three years. 



Fern spores are sown upon peat or loam in 

 well-drained pots or pans. The spores should 

 be gathered before the spore-cases have burst, 

 and be sown at once. The pans should be well 

 watered before the spores are scattered over the 

 surface of the soil. They should then be stood 

 in saucers of water, and a pane of glass be placed 

 over the top. This glass ought not to be re- 

 moved after once the spores have been sown, or 

 the spores of common ferns are sure to get in 

 and usurp the place of, or interfere with, those 

 sown. When the spores have vegetated, the 

 prothallia should be pricked off in little patches 

 in light soil. If left crowded in the spore-pan, 

 the prothallia often perish before a fern has 

 been developed. 



