286 



THE MOIST STOVE. 



Tropical coiiservaton', as above illustrated, is to be supplied, it will be 

 found next to impossible to obtain the necessary- supply without a separate 

 structure for their propagation. A pit, therefore, of the description re- 

 commended for the growth of Scitamineae, or Reedy plants, should be 

 erected in the reser^-e flower-garden, or in the melon or forcing-ground, 

 in which not only a supply of young plants will be brought forward, but 

 also those that are sickly brought into health again, and fitted for their 

 proper places. Such pits being filled with tan, or leaves, and the heat 

 kept up by the application of linings, will be a very good place for raising 

 Tropical seeds, or propagating the plants from cuttings. 



SEEDS. 



Few Tropical plants ripen their seeds in our stoves ; our supply, there- 

 fore, depends upon importations from the various countries of which they 

 are natives. The best season for sowing the seeds is undoubtedly in the 

 spring ; but as these seeds may arrive in autimin, or even during ^vinter, 

 it is better to sow them as soon as they are received, because they of 

 course have been long gathered, and they are also Uable to be very much 

 injured by their transition from warm to cold latitudes : indeed, some 

 sorts have been found to be incapable of the change. 



A statement has been made by a Danish botanist of credit, that of 

 eighteen hundred sorts sent' from Denmark to Calcutta, fourteen hundred 

 vegetated in a few days after sowing, whereas those sent to Europe 

 from Calcutta almost all perished. ^lany propositions have been made 

 for overcoming this difficulty : packing in charcoal, in closely corked 

 bottles, in sugar, imbedding the seeds in various gums and other mucila- 

 ginous matters, have all been tried, but not with any very satisfactory 

 result. " After much experience it has been found that seeds packed 

 loosely in coarse canvass bags, and hung to the ceiling of the cabin of a 

 ship, where they are exposed to light and air, and protected from damp, 

 wiU retain their vegetative powers much better than when enveloped in 

 wax or tallow, or mixed with sugar or charcoal. No material will pre- 

 serve seeds so long as coarse brown paper, made from old tarred rope, in 

 which a large quantity of tar is incorporated. Caitridge paper affords 

 seeds no protection whatever. SmTounding seeds with moist earth rammed 

 very hard %vill also prevent germination, and at the same time retain the 

 vital principle. In general, the most difficult seeds to preser%-e are those 

 wliich contain much oil ; bat there are many exceptions in the case of 



