28 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



produce substance that would not keep an annual busy for a 

 week. The majority do not bloom at all the first season and 

 some even require two or three years to reach blooming size. 



It is these slow growing perennials that give the gardener 

 the most trouble, though they are usually worth it because of 

 the number of years that the plants produce flowers when once 

 established. Under greenhouse conditions the grower expects 

 every viable seed to produce a plant, but when seeds are sown 

 in the ground out of doors, such expectations are seldom 

 realized. There may be reasons why fresh looking seeds will 

 not grow indoors or out. They may have been gathered 

 before they were mature, they may have been frozen before 

 they were thoroughly dried, or they may be too old. The 

 nature of the food store is seeds may also affect this latter 

 result, starchy seeds commonly remaining viable much longer 

 than seeds containing oil. In some specimens, such as the 

 canna, lotus, and our fruit and nut trees, the testa is so im- 

 pervious to water that they may fail to grow for a long time 

 if a hole is not filed through the protecting cover. Sometimes 

 boiling water is poured over such seeds to hasten germination. 

 Stone fruits, such as peach and cherry are usually planted in 

 fall so that the frost may split the testas, or they are stratified 

 in a box of moist sand and kept damp until spring. 



If one would have success with seeds planted in the open 

 ground, there are several things that must be taken into 

 account. First of all the soil should be warm and well 

 pulverized. Seeds of the hardy annuals and perennials may 

 be sown as soon as the ground can be worked in spring and 

 some may even be sown the previous autumn, but with seeds 

 about which there is any doubt, there is no advantage, and 

 there may be some loss, by being in too great a hurry to plant. 

 The seeds of perennial plants are often not planted until June 

 or later. 



