42 
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
are essential for the germination of seeds, as well as an absence of 
light. The absence of light is not perhaps so important a point as 
the others, but for a quick growth it is essential that it should be 
excluded — and, indeed, as a rule it must be done. Then as heat and 
moisture are the two principal agents in exciting vegetation, we 
should, when contemplating seed-sowing, also consider what means 
we have at hand, if the season does not furnish it, of supplying these 
agencies in all outdoor crops. These considerations are not so 
serious, but it is very certain that, for the majority of our kitchen 
garden seeds, we must wait till the earth is suificiently warm before 
we commence seed-sowing, or from the want of sufficient heat many 
of them will perish. 
To the too early sowing of small seeds in a cold, uncongenial soil, 
must be attributed many of the failures of which we hear, if the 
seeds are in the first instance good. The uninitiated are too 
often misled by a few warm spring days which usually occur in 
February and March ; and they set to work in earnest, prompted by 
an anxious desire to be early with their work, and so commit one of 
the greatest mistakes by sowing large batches of seeds, which would 
have been better kept in the drawers for at least a fortnight longer. 
In their enthusiasm, they forget for the time that frost and snow may 
yet visit us severely, and not only destroy many of the subjects 
committed to the tender mercies of the elements, but also blight all 
their hopes and anticipations of future success. 
March is usually considered to be a month of seed-sowing, but 
how much of this work is there not left till April by all those who 
have learnt to distrust so changeable a season as the month of 
March ; for the majority of our springs are cold, and even well- 
established subjects have usually to submit to a severe trial. How 
much more so must it be to the tender cotyledons of early-sown 
seeds. I think if we give the subject a little serious consideration, 
we cannot fail to be convinced that it is a mistake to commit to a 
cold damp soil thus early choice seeds ; for even if the season should 
be moderately favourable, the advantages to be gained are but few. 
We must, however, not lose sight of the naturally-favoured positions 
of some few gardens ; and at the same time we must make an allow- 
ance, or make for ourselves a distinction between light and heavy 
soils. But in all such cases the anxious cultivator will soon learn 
from observation what is applicable to his own case. 
Of the very few crops which belong to the kitchen garden that 
are actually benefited by early sowing, I can only instance the 
parsnip and the onion ; these want less warmth to excite them, and 
they are all the better if they can become well established before the 
summer sets in. But as to the more ornamental subjects of the 
flower garden, I am convinced the month of March is too early for 
even the hardiest of them ; the second week in April is soon enough 
for all reasonable people, and by deferring the general sowing till 
that time, they will have less to say about dead seeds. What plea- 
sure can it be to any one to see a few straggling plants here and 
there, struggling for an existence against the storms and cutting 
winds of a cold April day, and what are they if they do survive it ? 
