SOWING. 



6 



SOWING. 



feet long in a single season ; and 

 when it is grafted on a stock of S. 

 japonica, ten feet or twelve feet high, 

 these long sweeping shoots, the bark 

 of which is a bright green, have a pe- 

 culiarly graceful appearance. The 

 Sophora will grow in any soil, but a 

 poor one suits it better than a rich 

 one ; and its leaves seldom droop 

 even in the driest seasons. 



Southernwood. — See Artemisia. 



Sowing. — The operation of com- 

 mitting seeds to the soil in flower- 

 gardening, is commonly done in 

 patches ; but sometimes flowers are 

 sown broadcast or in drills, and occa- 

 sionally singly. When annuals are to 

 be grown in borders containing a 

 miscellaneous assemblage of flowers, 

 they are commonly sown in small cir- 

 cular patches, in intervals left on pur- 

 pose among the perennials, or among 

 the Roses and other low shrubs. Each 

 patch is prepared by digging up a 

 spadeful of the soil and returning it 

 to its place with the surface down- 

 wards ; then breaking it finely, and 

 levelling and smoothing the surface ; 

 and lastly, depressing or slightly hol- 

 lowing out a circle from three to six 

 inches in diameter, and from a quar- 

 ter to a half an inch in depth, according 

 to the size of the seeds to be sown. As 

 most seeds germinate best when gently 

 pressed into the soil, a very good 

 mode for amateurs is to take the sau- 

 cer of a flower-pot of the diameter of 

 the patch, and gently press down the 

 soil ; and then to strew a few seeds 

 on the level surface thus formed. 

 Half-a-dozen seeds will be sufficient, 

 of even the smallest-growing plants, 

 if the seeds are good. The nest ope- 

 ration is to sprinkle a little fine soil 

 over the seeds, so as to cover them to 

 about the same thickness as the dia- 

 meter of the seed. After this, the 

 saucer should be again applied so as 

 to press down the soil and the seeds 

 together ; and if there be any danger 



apprehended from birds or drought, 

 an empty flower-pot should be turned 

 over the patch till the plants come up. 

 The larger seeds of flowers, such as 

 Lupins, Sweet Peas, &c, may be 

 sown three or four in a patch ; and 

 some kinds of Lupins, such as L. 

 Cruickshdnkii and L. mutdbilis,vri\\ 

 not require more than a single seed. 

 In the case of large seeds, and of all 

 the commoner kinds, the use of the 

 saucer for preparing the ground, and 

 of the empty flower-pot as a protec- 

 tion, may be dispensed with. 



In sowing broadcast, the bed or 

 space to be covered being stirred up 

 with the spade and raked fine on the 

 surface, should be gently smoothed 

 with the back of the spade, and the 

 seeds afterwards strewed over it, so 

 as to lie, if the seed be good, at an 

 inch or two apart : or less, if the 

 plants are to be thinned out or trans- 

 planted. The seeds may then be 

 covered by strewing over them some 

 fine mould: and this may be "firmed," 

 as the gardeners term it. by gently 

 beating the ground flat with the 

 spade. For ordinary seeds, raking the 

 surface smooth before sowing, and 

 after sowing again raking it, will be 

 found sufficient ; and the raking 

 should always be light in proportion 

 to the smallness of the seeds. In 

 sowing grass-seeds to form a lawn, 

 the ground should be beaten equally 

 firm throughout, to prevent it from 

 sinking unequally afterwards ; and 

 after it has been rendered perfectly 

 smooth and even, the seeds should be 

 sown quite thick, and raked in so 

 gently, that the teeth of the rake may 

 not penetrate more than half an inch 

 into the soil. 



Sowing in drills or little furrows 

 drawn by the hoe, is chiefly required 

 for edgingrs ; and, as the plants suited 

 to this purpose are small, and also 

 the seeds, great care ought to be 

 taken to distribute them equally, 



