TENDER ANNUALS FROM SEED 



N. R. ALLEN 



The Right Methods from Seed to Full Flower Demonstrated 

 With Salvia, Which is One of the Extremely Popular Favorites 



^T^^ALVIA seeds are of uncertain germination, and slow 

 jjlOp to sprout, so to facilitate matters 1 soak them over 

 Kj3§/i night in a pint bowl of water to which is added a tiny 

 S^iCfs pinch of a soluble flower food. The next day 

 remove them from the liquid and plant them in a seed-box at a 

 depth of three or four times their thickness. Firm the dirt 

 above them with a piece of old muslin, and water through this 

 by means of a fine spray. The temperature in the furnace- 

 room where mine go until germinated, standing across the top 

 of a discarded clothes-horse, ranges during the daytime from 

 eighty to ninety degrees Fahrenheit. The soil moisture is 

 managed by watering through the cloth, and the latter must be 

 always wet, though this means several visits thereto a day. 

 About ten o'clock each night the final spraying is given, the 

 cloth is wet, and the seeds are tucked up for the night under 

 eight or ten thicknesses of newspaper. 



When they have germinated they move to the kitchen whose 

 temperature, though fluctuating, is not so high. The thermom- 

 eter often registers eighty degrees when cooking is in progress 

 but commonly it is about seventy. Here, uncovered, they have 

 a place near the range for a week, then they are removed to a 

 window facing south some twelve feet away. As soon as they 

 crowd they are carefully pricked out with a penknife, and 

 transplanted to stand two inches apart. After transplanting, 

 water carefully and set where the sun will not shine on them for 

 a few days. 



Native to Brazil, Salvias not only like warmth, but a rich, 

 friable soil. So the next event in their history is a small dose 

 of wood ashes of the commercial sort, since these are not likely 

 to be over-fiery. This tonic makes them strong and sturdy of 

 stem, as it contains potash. I almost fear to mention it! — but 

 if you try it, remember that you would not hand roast duck 

 over to the baby just because he cried for it; and feed the Salvias 

 with corresponding discretion. Not much more than a "dust- 

 ing" of it is put on to the soil between the plants, in little furrows 



so that it shall not be washed against their stems when they are 

 watered. A week later some commercial sheep-manure is given 

 in the same way, and this alternating potash and phosphoric 

 acid — the latter for bloom and good color in the flowers — 

 contained respectively in the wood-ashes and the sheep-fertilizer, 

 is repeated several times, but always with caution. 



The Salvias are the last seedlings to be taken out-of-doors. 

 At first they go on to the back porch for a few hours during the 

 warmest part of the day only, but not in direct sunshine. If 

 there is a drying wind or a cold and blighting one, they are pro- 

 tected and if there is a warm spring rain, falling softly, they are 

 allowed the benefit of it — but when the soil is sufficiently satur- 

 ated they are brought under cover from it, and they are al- 

 ways brought into the house at night for the first week or so. 

 Some direct sunshine is allowed after a week or ten days, and 

 from the middle of May they stay outside all of the time. 

 But their box is set within a frame so that if there is a downpour 

 heavy enough to injure them, or danger of frost, they may be 

 covered. On or about May 31st they are transplanted into 

 their permanent place — a sandy soil, naturally very poor, which is 

 enriched early in the spring with horse-manure, not then thor- 

 oughly rotted and having a good deal of straw. Here they get 

 sun from about eleven o'clock on. When they are well 

 established, some coarse bonemeal is dug in around them. 



About August 1 st they will commence to blossom — a little 

 in advance of plants grown from cuttings, usually — and many 

 of my plants are from forty to fifty-eight inches high. I find 

 it better not to place them two successive years in the same 

 place. 



I would never advise an earlier beginning than the first of 

 April. Too early a start doubles one's troubles, for plants be- 

 come so large that transplanting multiplies and it will take 

 several boxes to hold them. Moreover it is almost impossible 

 to keep seedlings in the house for a long time and have them 

 remain healthy and strong. 



FOR BIG RESULTS IN LITTLE TIME 



The half-hardy and tender annuals, with summer flower-roots are an ever ready means of over- 

 coming bare space. Salvia, Coleus, Canna, Castor-bean and in the distance Elephant Ear 



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