450 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



should never be content with imitating, and should not think 

 too much about imitating nature. Those who have seen the 

 plant growing wild are perhaps more likely to succeed with it 

 than those who know nothing about its habits ; but as this 

 subject has been fully discussed lately I will only say, never 

 think you cannot cultivate a plant successfully because you 

 cannot imitate the conditions in which it is known to thrive in 

 its native home ; you may find it nourish still better under very 

 different conditions which you can easily give. But one thing 

 no man can do or ever will do, and that is, train a plant by 

 habit to live in a greater cold than it is made by nature to bear. 

 What is called acclimatisation, or habituating plants in succes- 

 sive generations from seed to become hardier than nature made 

 them, seems to me to be a theory unsupported by the experience of 

 facts. Plants may adapt themselves in the course of ages to very 

 gradual lowerings of temperature in their native home, but it 

 cannot be done suddenly, or in the space of a man's life. I 

 believe an individual plant of any cosmopolitan species will be 

 equally hardy whether the seed from which it is raised is 

 gathered in the tropics or in the arctic regions. 



Everyone who wishes to have many herbaceous plants should 

 grow them from seed for many reasons. Seedlings thrive better 

 and are hardier than divisions of a plant ; by saving seed 

 in your own garden you may exercise a judicious selection in 

 gathering it. Then it must be borne in mind that not only 

 species but individual plants vary in constitution ; some seed- 

 lings will grow more vigorously and flower more freely than 

 others raised from the same pod. For all who understand how 

 to deal with seedlings time is saved by sowing seed as soon as it 

 is ripe ; if it does not come up at once, it will come up sooner 

 than if stored in a dry cupboard. Every species includes good 

 and bad forms, and it is desirable to select the best ; when once 

 selected they are generally easy to keep. Seeds come up better 

 when sown under glass, but artificial heat is often bad for them. 

 The seedlings should not at any time of their growth be crowded. 

 For transplanting them I use trays made of 4-inch deal laths, 

 about 5 inches deep, and 20 inches long by 14 ; the laths put 

 together with intervals to allow for drainage and air to the soil. 

 When wooden boxes are used for plants it is well to smear the 



