SEEDS. 



265 



SEEDS. 



genus takes its botanic name of Se- 

 dum from the Latin verb Sedere to 

 sit, because in its wild state it appears 

 to be sitting or crouching on the old 

 walls or rocks which form its habi- 

 tat ; and its English name of Stone 

 Crop alludes to the same habit of 

 growth, as it appears to be growing 

 out of stones which afford no other 

 crop. All the species, though quite 

 hardy, should be grown in well- 

 drained pots filled with turfy loam, 

 mixed with lime-rubbish ; and they j 

 are all admirably adapted for rock- 

 work. They are increased by cut- 

 tings, or dividing the roots. 



Seeds. — The gathering and pre- 

 servation of seeds is an occupation 

 peculiarly agreeable to persons fond 

 of gardening; partly, no doubt, be- 

 cause it contains so much of future 

 promise, and on the same principle 

 that sowing is universally considered 

 a more exciting operation than reap- 

 ing. The greater number of seeds of 

 ornamental herbaceous plants are con- 

 tained in long narrow pods called 

 siliques, or sillicles, such as those of 

 the cruciferous plants ; or in legumi- 

 nous pods, such as those of the Sweet 

 Pea; or of capsules, such as those of 

 Campanula ; but a number of plants 

 produce their seeds naked in tubes, 

 such as the Scrophularinae ; on recep- 

 ticles such as the Composita ; and | 

 some in fruits more or less fleshy, 

 6uch as the Fuchsia. All seeds may 

 be known to be ripe, or nearly so, by 

 the firmness of their texture, and by 

 their changing from a white or green- 

 ish colour, to a colour more or less 

 brown. There are, indeed, some 

 seeds which are whitish when ripe, 

 such as the "White Lupine, and of 

 several of the sweet peas ; and other 

 seeds that are quite black, such 

 as those of some Ranunculuses, 

 but in general a brown colour is a 

 characteristic of ripeness. Seeds 

 should be gathered on a dry day after 



the sun has had sufficient time to 

 exhale all the moisture which dews 

 or rains may have left on the seed- 

 vessels. In general, the pods, or 

 capsules, should be cut off with a 

 small portion of the stalks attached, 

 and the whole should be spread out, 

 each kind by itself, on papers in an 

 airy room or shed, from which rain, 

 and the direct influence of the sun, 

 are both excluded. When the seed- 

 vessels are thoroughly dried, they may 

 j be put up in papers without separating 

 the seeds from them ; and kept in a 

 dry place, rather airy than close, till 

 wanted for sowing. Seeds preserved 

 in the seed-vessel no doubt make 

 comparatively clumsy packages, to 

 seeds from which every description of 

 husk or covering has been separated ; 

 but in this clumsy state they are found 

 to keep better than when cleaned. Ne- 

 vertheless, when they are to be sown 

 the following year, or sent anywhere 

 in a letter, it is better to take them 

 out of the covering, and render them 

 as clean as possible, by passing them 

 through sieves, with holes sufficiently 

 large to admit the escape of dust, but 

 not of the seeds. Such sieves on a 

 small scale every lady may make for 

 herself by turning up the edges of a 

 piece of thin pasteboard cut in a cir- 

 cular form, and piercing the bottom 

 I with holes with a large pin or darning- 

 needle. When it is determined to 

 separate the seeds from the seed-ves- 

 sels, instead of putting up the whole 

 together, the vessels after gathering 

 may be dried in the sun ; when many 

 of the seeds will come out by the ex- 

 pansion of the seed-vessels in the 

 heat, and the remainder can easily be 

 rubbed out. This is the usual prac- 

 tice of nurserymen. For keeping 

 seeds a lady ought to have a small 

 cabinet, which she might form herself 

 of pasteboard, with as many drawers 

 as there are letters in the alphabet ; 

 and as her seeds are put up in papers, 



