14 
& 
DECORATION DAY. 
'Mid the gathering gloom of war’s dark night, 
In their youth and prime, in their strength and 
might, 
They went from their homes, a noble band, 
To battle for right, and their own proud land: 
To lay the traitorous foe in the dust. 
And nobly they honored the nation’s trust. 
Time passes along and again they come, 
But the slow, sad beat of the muffled drum, 
The sable hearse, the pall, the bier, 
The measured tread and the mourner’s tear, 
And the solemn tones of the tolling bell 
A tale of death but too plainly tell. 
They come—but never, ah ! nevermore 
Shall they all return from that southern shore, 
For the soft winds sigh, and the tall trees wave 
O'er many and many a nameless grave; 
And many a heart is mourning to-day 
For a loved one buried so far away. 
Then let us in mem’ry a requiem sing, 
As flowers, bright, beautiful flowers we bring, 
While tear-drops glisten in many an eye, 
And the sad rain falls from a weeping sky, 
As our tributes v e place on the sacred spot 
Which loyal hearts mark as the soldiers’ lot. 
Bring beautiful flowers of every hue, 
The pure white lilies and violets blue. 
Bring the rose and laurel, bring garland and vine, 
And lay them as off’rings on memory’s shrine; 
“Tlio’ they smile in vain for what once was ours. 
They are love’s last gift; bring ye flbws rs, sweet 
flowers.” 
L. D. C. 
Why Seeds Fail to Grow. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
There are many reasons why seeds fail 
to germinate, or fail to grow after germi¬ 
nating; one of the principal, and a vital one, 
we have stated in a previous paper: “The 
use of the feet in sowing and planting.” 
Many persons do not seem to clearly under¬ 
stand why the use of the feet is so impor¬ 
tant in gardening operations, and desire 
our reasons in a more explanatory form. 
We will give them. There is stored up in 
every perfect seed, a latent germ, the 
embryo of a new life, the development of 
which is conditional upon other natural 
causes. The influences that act upon the 
seed to cause growth, are heat, air and 
moisture, and without a proportionate 
quantity of each, there can be no plant life. 
Mow, it follows that when a seed is put into 
the ground and loosely covered with light,- 
dry soil, it does not come in contact with 
sufficient moisture to moisten the' seed: 
neither is there sufficient heat, because of 
the too great circulation of air around the 
seed to produce the chemical changes upon-, 
which vegetable growth depends. 
Again, when we place a Se^ in the earth 
it immediately commences growth in two 
opposite directions, upward into the at¬ 
mosphere and downward into the earth— 
the two sources from which it obtains its • 
food. It is a mistake to suppose that the- 
first root that the seed puts forth, furnishes 
the young plant with food. It does not; it 
simply holds the plant in place until the 
true roots, by which the plant is fed. are 
formed. The first, or seed leaves, contain 
the food of the infant plant until its true 
leaves and roots are formed, and do not per¬ 
form the functions of the plant’s true leaves. 
The feeding roots of any plant or tree 
are delicate white fibres,, so small as rarely 
to be seen with the naked eye, and are 
never seen by the casual observer. Now,, 
when these roots are formed, if the soil is 
not pressed firmly around the main root, 
these feeders have nothing to live upon;: 
they must come in immediate contact with 
moisture, or the warm, dry air will destroy 
them and the whole plant will stand still 
until new roots are formed, or, in the mean¬ 
time, perish. Herein lies the benefit of 
using the feet in seed sowing. In thinning 
out plants, when the seed has been sown 
too thickly, the feet should always be used 
in order to press the soil firmly about the 
remaining plants. 
Deep planting is another frequent cause 
of the seed’s failure to germinate. The 
importance of more care in this direction 
cannot be over-estimated. Our observation 
and experiments made in planting various 
seeds at different depths show some won¬ 
derful results. Take, for instance, sweet 
corn and cover from one-half inch to five 
inches in depth. The former will germi¬ 
nate without a loss of five per cent, and 
the latter will not grow five per cent, and 
exact ratio between will be kept up. The 
cause for the difference is that the condi¬ 
tions of growing are not complied with, 
the deficit being heat, which, at the season. 
