AUSTRALIAN PLANTS. 
23 
charcoal. Then should come a layer of coarse siftings of soil, coarse 
leaf mould, or rubble, in order to prevent the finer soil from working 
-down amongst the drainage material. The quality of soil should be 
about the same as is recommeuded for pots or pans, and it should 
occupy, say, two-tliirds of the depth of the box, and be pressed firmly 
down with the hand to within an inch of the top. By using a small 
.square board, similar to a plasterer’s hawk, the top soil may be pressed 
and smoothed over evenly; then a good sound watering follows, and 
afterwards the seeds, which, as previously stated, should be covered 
lightly. The final watering with the ‘Tose-can” is merely to settle 
the surface soil and seeds. Boxes should be placed under a light 
wooden framework a few feet high, capable of supporting some shading 
material, when necessary, until the seedlings are well above the surface, 
after which all shading may practically be dispensed with. 
Soils intended for seed sowing should be sifted through a half-inch 
mesh sieve before use, and all seeds, especially small seeds, should be 
watered with a finely-perforated “rose-can,” from the time of sowing 
until they are well above ground, and strong. Afterwards, a larger 
and coarser watering-can may be used, but the perforations in the 
"‘rose” should not be too large, or the seedlings may be laid low. 
tieecl Beds in the open ground should be composed of good friable 
sandy loam or garden soil, without manure. Should the ground be 
stiff, a coating of old spent hops or leaf mould, ana some coarse river- 
sand or coal ashes should be dug in, and well forked up two or three 
times, so as to get all thoroughly mixed. 
It is always wise to prepare the seed bed a months or six weeks 
prior to the time of sowing. At the same time, the bed should be 
hoed over occasionally, taking care that the hoe (Dutch) is run well 
below the surface. This process not only kills most of the weeds that 
might otherwise appear amongst the seedlings, but sweetens and pul¬ 
verizes the ground. The bed should not be more than six to eight feet 
wide, so that it can be hoed from each side without trampling upon it. 
After being made level, and well raked over to remove all sticks, 
stones, and rubbish, it is ready for sowing. If a broad plank is 
placed across the bed, when making the drills and sowing the seeds, 
there will be no need to trample upon the bed. 
The seed drills should be one foot apart from each other, so as to 
afford room for the hoe to run in between them. A ready method of 
making drills for small seeds in narrow beds is to take a piece of soft 
or hard wood batten (two or three inches by one); it must be as long 
.as the width of the bed. Place this with the inch side upon the soil 
where the drill is to be. Then, by pressing the batten down firmly, 
a drill will be completed of uniform depth. The seeds should be 
covered by hand, with a light sandy mixture, whicn can be carried in 
a bucket. Supply plenty of water with a rose-can to settle down the 
surface soil and seed. See that the soil is kept fairly moist until the 
