105^ THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. [Apr, 



preferred ; they are broad and shallow, which admits of a 

 considerable surface for the seed to be sown on, and of being 

 rendered perfectly dry at bottom. Great care should be taken 

 in draining them, for although the surface will require to be 

 kept pretty moist, still no impediment must be left whereby 

 the superabundant moisture would be prevented from passing 

 freely off. The directions given for draining cutting-pots will 

 be, if acted upon, sufficient for this purpose. The mould 

 upon which the seeds of heaths are sown, should be of the 

 sort called peat-earth, having naturally a considerable portion 

 of fine white shining sand in it, or, if deficient in this material, 

 it should be added to it by the cultivator. 



As the seeds are very small, the mould for this purpose, to 

 the thickness of an inch and a half, should be sifted very fine, 

 and the surface of the mould in the pot rendered smooth and 

 level with a small circular piece of board, say of three inches 

 diameter, having a nail driven into the centre of its upper sur- 

 face, by which the operator can use it to much gi'eater advan- 

 tage. Upon the surface so prepared, the seeds should be 

 thinly sown regularly all over it, and covered with the same 

 kind of mould to the thickness of one-eighth of an inch, more 

 or less, according to the size of the seeds, as some are larger 

 than others. The pots so sown should be then placed upon 

 the platform in the seed-house, or upon a floor (if in frames) 

 of finely-sifted coal-ashes, and after being gently watered with 

 a very fine rose watering-pot, be shaded from the sun. This 

 shading must be continued constantly on during sun-shine, 

 until the plants be from half an inch to an inch high ; after- 

 wards it must be gradually removed to harden them by de- 

 grees, to fit them for potting off into separate pots. Some cul- 

 tivators place bell or hand-glasses over the seed-pots when sown, 

 and when such can be spared, they may be with some propriety 

 used. For five or six weeks, the surface of the mould must never 

 be allo>ved to become dry, but be daily examined, at the end of 

 which time, the seeds may be expected to have vegetated. 

 When such is the case, the bell or hand-glasses should be 

 gradually removed, first by being lifted up about a quarter of 

 an inch, and increasing this air, until entirely removed. Some 

 seeds of course do not vegetate so soon as others, therefore 



