Caniiell & Sons’ Complete Seed Guide. 
struck or preparing for Winter decorative purimses. Of course, numerous 
hardy plants not required to flower till next Spring have already been jmt 
into cold frames or placed in the open air to harden off. 
In the stoves was a very fine collection of Ferns, especially of Adiantum, 
very full of vigour and perfect in shape. In yet another was a small 
collection of Orchids; while perhaps the most interesting which we hud but 
time to glance at while walking through was a large collection of various 
forms of the Cactus, which when not in flower have no particular claim to 
beauty, but which present a variety of the most singular forms of vegetable 
or floral life to be found in the whole range. Mr. Cannell humorously calls 
it his “ old curiosity shop,” and a day might be well spent in studying the 
variety and singularity of growth of the specimens he has collected. 
In the outside gardens was a wonderfully fine collection of Dahlias, the 
Cactus and Pompone forms being specially fine. Notwithstanding the sharp 
frost we have recently had the display was a really fine one, the flowers 
superb in colour and exquisitely beautiful in shape, while the variety was 
most charming. 
The speciality, however, both at Swauley and at the Eynsford farm, 
is the production of seeds, both for the vegetable and the flower garden, 
and also for the conservatory. To most gardeners, especially cottagers, 
a seed is just a seed and nothing more. They know, indeed, that a seed is 
sown, and that a plant grows from it, but rarely trouble themselves to ask 
the reason why, and also the reason why in many cases they do not fructify. 
They do, indeed, know that there is what they call dead seed, but do not 
trouble to-discover the cause. As seeds retain their power of germination 
up to a certain time, age, if not too great, c.an .scarcely be the cause of 
failure. Let us ask where too often the failure lies. In the first place, 
we would remark that the bulk of seeds belong to two classes, those 
with one aud those with two lobes. The few Cryptogamoiis plants which 
have no lobes proper are called acoti/leihms or xpore. Those with one lobe are 
called monoroli/leduns, while those with two are called dirulylcdutis. These, 
again, are divided into two classes, those in which, like the mustard, the seed 
is pushed up from the ground after germination, and those in which, like the 
pea, it remains in the earth. The seed is usually encased in two skins or 
coverings, known as the spermoderm, within which is an inorganic cellular 
mass of albumen, aud the embryo or future plant. There are many varia- 
tions in the position of these parts, which it is needless to enter into. When 
planted under congenial conditions the first evidence of . life takes place 
within the seed itself, the embryo feeding upon the albumen which has been 
stored up around it until it gains sufficient strength to break the outer shell, 
when it throws ont tendrils which become the roots of the future plant in order 
to imbibe nourishment from the surrounding soil. A very similar, but in some 
respects different, process is well-known to every potato grower. The future 
plant to be developed from . the parent tuber derives its nutriment from the 
starch of the parent tuber, and if the potato, or a part of it, be set in the 
ground it rapidly throws .out fibres upon whieh are developed the future 
crop. This short digression will show the importance of obtaining good 
seed, and accounts for many failures. For it is in the process of growing 
and drying or curing that the albumen of the seed is rendered ca])able of 
supporting the life of the future plant. For instance, if we gather any 
seeds we wish to preserve while the weather is damp, and put them by in 
that condition, fermentation (a fungus or mould) is set up in the albumen 
oc starch, and in the chemical action which follows its condition is so 
changed that it cannot possibly support the life of the seed until it is capable 
of throwing out roots, and it consequently prematurely perishes. Of course, 
if the amount of damp is great, the seed itself, in all its parts, literally rots. 
In sowing the seed also Messrs. Cannell recommended that the seed 
pan, until the seeds begin to germinate, be not only covered up but kept in 
the dark, and, after germination, tl at light and air be gradually admitted. 
This will secure an equal distribution of moisture and a uniform temperature. 
Even if outdoor seeds could be so planted it would be better ; and the 
nearer the approach to nature and common sense, the greater will be the 
certainty of a good crop and vigorous plants. 
From these remarks it will be seen that the mere gathering of seeds, 
even with a knowledge of the time of ripening, is by no means all that is 
required. Many ot us know this from experience of the failures we have 
met with, but whose cause lay in our ignorance or neglect of nature’s laws 
under which alone success can be guaranteed. It is to this subject Mr. 
Cannell, sen., has for many years devoted his attention, and he has adopted 
the best and surest method of achieving success. The growing of the great 
part of the flower and vegetable seeds, we have already said, is carried on 
at the seed farm, Eynsford, but the drying and final cleaning of the seeds 
goes on under the immediate attention of Mr. H. Cannell at Swanley. The 
Eynsford farm, of 300 acres, though it still bears evidence of the long 
neglect to which it was subjected previous to Messrs. Cannell actiuiring it, 
is beautifully situated near the station. It lies iu a valley, between two 
ranges of ehalk hills, the greater part being very fertile sandy loam, lying 
on the debris of the ehalk, and is beautifully undulating. Here we saw 
eight more hothouses, with a great number of cold frames, and in the houses 
the processes of drying are canied on. An immense number of boxes 
occupied one of the houses, each containing some one particular kind of 
seed, each one properly marked. When dried aud sorted, these are packed 
aud sent over to the Swanley house, two miles away, to be finally cleaned 
aud packed for sale. The flower seeds, of course, come only into small 
compass — a thimblefull of some such minute seeds as the begonia would 
sup[ily plants enough for half a county ; but when we come to peas, beans, 
and potatoes, where we measure the wants for a garden by bushels of one 
and sacks of the other, the case is altogether different. We had to be 
satisfied with seeing the fields in which peas, beans (broad, French, and 
runner), &c., had been grown. The produce was already all hand-picked 
aud safely housed. Hut we were shorvn some of that produce, notably the 
onions saved for next year’s seed, and these were superb, l oth in shape and 
quality. One entire house was filled with splendid specimens, saved for 
seeding purposes. 
Messrs. Cannell have also at this farm a very large number of roses, 
of choice kinds, while another iiortion is devoted to nursery purposes, and 
filled with a variety of young healthy looking fruit trees aud other nursery 
stock — both <}uantity and quality. 
Looking down from one of the hills upon a low-lying valley near the 
old homestead we saw a curious sight. Side by side along the field were a 
long series of what looked like the earth-covered graves of some departed 
giant race. Giants of their kind there might be, but it would take thousands 
to fill one of these gigantic graves. 'This was no old world cemetery, nor 
were these heaps tumuli or cromlechs to celebrate and immortalise the mighty 
warriors of old. They were simply the clamps where were preserved till 
next Spring the hundred and two varieties of potatoes grown on the farm. 
We had no opportunity of inspecting this great batch of seeds, being too late 
for such a w'Ork, but we know that many are of the very choicest kinds, and 
as Messrs. Cannell grow for seed and not for ware, we may be sure that every 
care is taken to secure distinctness and truth of character 
Messrs. Cannell have won very high honours — in fact, some of the highest 
— by their contributions to the great shows, both with flowers and vegetables 
And they well deserve the sncccss they have achieved. Earnestness, per- 
severance, high technical skill, and the genial manners of every member of 
the firm make it a positive delight to wander over their grounds. Eveu now 
the pleasure was a great one, but we purpose to ourselves another trip to the 
Kent “ Home of Flowers” next Summer, when they are in all the luxuriance 
of their beauty, and when they are the pride of the Messrs. Cannell, and oue 
of the finest sights of the county. 
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