82 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 1912 



come up. Then I hunted up a gardener 

 friend and asked him why. The reply 

 was that if I had sown the seed as soon 

 as ripe and left it alone the plants would 

 have come up nicely the following spring. 

 I followed the advice and found it was 

 so. 



The peony can easily be grown from seed 

 when new varieties are wanted They 

 should be sown as soon as ripe, but the 

 seedlings seldom appear above the ground 

 the first year for all the strength of the 

 young plant goes to make roots. 



The shrubs are just as easy to grow from 

 seed as are the annuals and perennials. 

 There are, however, very 

 few shrubs grown from 

 seed as a rule, because 

 the nurserymen find, with 

 few exceptions, that they 

 can raise shrubs more 

 easily and cheaply from 

 cuttings. However, that 

 need not deter the ama- 

 teur. In walks through 

 the woods or fields you 

 will undoubtedly come 

 upon some desirable 

 shrub. If the seeds are 

 ripe, pick as many as are 

 wanted, take them home, 

 and plant them at once. 

 Almost without exception 

 shrub seeds must not be 

 allowed to become dry. If 

 they do they will either 

 not germinate, or will 

 take two or three years 

 to come up. Seeds which 

 have no fleshy pulp 

 about them can be sown 

 directly in the ground, 

 but seeds like barberry, 

 dogwood, viburnum, and 

 privet, should be soaked 

 in water until the pulp 

 has become sufficiently 

 softened so that it can 

 be easily separated from 

 the seed. After cleaning 

 the seed can be sown in 

 the open ground. Shrub 

 seed should be sown in 

 beds not over six feet 

 wide; if they are wider 

 than that weeding is inconvenient. The 

 rows in which the seeds are sown should 

 be six inches to one foot apart. Put 

 them a half to three quarters of an inch 

 deep. 



Any good garden soil will serve as 

 a seedbed, but should the ground be 

 clayey work into it peat or leaf mold, or 

 put on a thin mulch. 



Seed that cannot be sown at once is 

 "stratified" to keep it from drying out. 

 This consists of mixing the seeds with 

 damp sand in boxes and storing them in a 

 damp place so that the sand will not dry 

 out. Large seeds can be stratified in a 

 pit in the garden. They can then be sown 

 in the spring. Some shrub seeds will not 

 need stratifying but the seeds of the follow- 



ing genera must be stratified if they are 

 not sown in the fall. Berberis (the purple- 

 leaved barberry, can also be grown from 

 seed as a large percentage of it comes true) ; 

 Ceanothus; Cornus (usually does not ger- 

 minate until the second year); Corylus; 

 Daphne (very slow to germinate) ; Euony- 

 mus; Halesia, Ligustrum (sometimes two 

 years necessary to germinate), Lonicera, 

 Pavia, Ptelea, Rhamnus, Ribes, Rubus, 

 Sambucus, Spiras (when sown the seeds 

 should be covered only slightly with soil), 

 Staphylea, Styrax (usually dormant the 

 first year), Symphoricarpos, Viburnum. 

 All the rose species such as setigera, 



Start seeds now and by the end of summer you can have a border of perennials that 

 will become better and better as time goes on 



Wichuraiana, Carolina, lucida, can easily 

 be grown from seed, sown at once upon 

 maturing, or they may be left in the hip 

 on the plant until spring. Nearly all the 

 genera in the heath family (Ericaceae) 

 such as Azalea, Adromeda, Clethra, can 

 easily be grown from seed if sown as 

 soan as ripe in pots or pans in peaty 

 soil and placed in coldframes. Azalea 

 seed need not be sown until early spring 

 when the seeds should be sown thinly in 

 a sandy, peat soil without covering and 

 kept moist and shady. The young plants 

 will need to be pricked out into boxes in 

 a sandy, peaty soil and placed in cold- 

 frames where they can be shaded and 

 stored the first winter in a light, well- 

 aired, frost-proof pit. 



Why Some Seeds Do Not Grow 



By G. W. K. 



POOR stands of vegetables are usually 

 due to one of two things — the seed 

 having rotted in the soil, because of cold 

 weather following early planting, or low 

 germination because of the dust-dry con- 

 dition of the soil when the seed was sown, 

 followed by a long spell of hot, dry weather. 

 This may be avoided sometimes by soak- 

 ing the seed in tepid water for twelve hours 

 before planting. This is specially applicable 

 to peas, corn, beet, spinach, beans, etc. 

 Be careful not to plant too deeply. Large, 

 strong-growing seeds such 

 as peas, beans, and corn 

 should be planted from 

 two or three inches deep; 

 asparagus, beet, cucum- 

 bers, etc., one inch deep; 

 carrot, mustard, lettuce, 

 radish, turnip, cabbage, 

 and other similar seeds, 

 half an inch. 



Prepare the seed bed in 

 the usual way by digging, 

 make the surface very fine 

 by the use of the rake, 

 smooth and make firm; 

 then sow the seed thinly 

 on the surface. Spread 

 evenly over the seed, one 

 quarter to one half an inch 

 deep, according to the size 

 of the seed, a mulch of 

 thoroughly rotted, mealy 

 manure sifted through a 

 half -inch sieve; then give a 

 thorough watering. Should 

 very old manure not be 

 available, substitute leaf 

 soil. This method is ideal 

 for perennial seeds, many 

 of which lie dormant a 

 long time. 



Sow choice seed, such as 

 coleus, geraniums, helio- 

 trope, lobelia, pentstemon, 

 etc., in seed pans or flats 

 with proper drainage. A 

 good soil is two parts loam 

 (or good garden soil) with 

 onepartleaf mold, to which 

 is added a 6-inch potfull of 

 sand to each bushel of the mixture. The 

 leaf soil must be put through a ^-inch sieve 

 to exclude undecomposed leaves, sticks, etc. 

 Fine seed, such as lobelia, should only be 

 pressed into the soil with a smooth piece 

 of board. After sowing, water carefully 

 with a very fine rose and place the seed 

 boxes in a greenhouse, frame, or sunny win- 

 dow, covering with paper to prevent the 

 top soil from drying off too quickly. Be 

 careful when watering the seedlings previ- 

 ous to transplanting, for they are very 

 liable to damp off. Sow begonia, primula, 

 calceolaria, cineraria, ferns, and the choice 

 double petunia in pots. Water the soil, and 

 after it has dried off a little sow the seed 

 and press it into the soil; cover each pot 

 with a sheet of glass. 



