October 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
3 
but this could scarcely occur also to those of the 
second and third year, or even to those which were 
only a few weeks later in their vegetation. 
It is not possible to enumerate a general rule re¬ 
lative to germinating temperatures requiring no ex¬ 
ceptions, but, in general, for the seeds of plants 
natives of temperate latitudes the best germinating 
temperature is about 00° F.; for those of half-hardy 
plants 70°; and for those of tropical plants about 
80° F.; and the necessity for such temperatures 
depends upon the same causes that prevent the 
hatching of eggs, unless they be kept for a certain 
period at a temperature of about 100°. The requisite 
changes are not produced either in the seed or in the 
egg, unless it be submitted to the propitious tempera¬ 
ture—but why this is requisite to develop the forms, 
and effect the changes, without which there is no 
vitality, is a secret at present withheld from man’s 
understanding by their Creator, and we must rest 
satisfied with the approximate knowledge that heat 
is the vast and all pervading agent he employs to 
call life into existence. 
Although temperatures ranging between 60° and 
80° are those most usually propitious to germination, 
yet a much higher temperature can be endured by a 
seed without its vitality being destroyed, and, indeed, 
may be employed with great advantage when the 
seed from age or other cause germinates with dif¬ 
ficulty. Dr. Lindley found the seeds of a raspberry 
germinate, though they must have endured a tem¬ 
perature of 230° in the boiling syrup of the jam, 
whence they were taken; and other instances are 
known where peas submitted to a temperature of 
200°, and left in the water for twenty-four hours until 
cool, germinated more readily than other peas not so 
treated. The seeds of Acacia bphantha also produced 
seedlings after being boiled in water for five minutes. 
The effects produced by this high temperature are 
to permanently soften the cuticle of the seed, and 
render it more readily permeable by the air; also 
aiding the conversion of the starchy components of 
the seed into saccharine matter; but if the boiling 
be continued until the composition of the germen (or 
young plantlet) is altered, the germinating power of 
the seed is destroyed. 
THE ERUIT-GARDEN. 
The Planting Season. —Having carried our readers 
through the routine of summer management, such as 
training, stopping, disbudding, &c., we will now turn 
our attention to business connected with the rest 
period, which is ushered in by the decay and fall of 
the leaf in deciduous trees: and the majority of our 
fruit-trees are of this character. It is to be hoped 
that those ardent amateurs and cottagers who have 
had faith in our directions, and who think, as we 
think, that there is in reality more room for improve¬ 
ment in fruit culture than in any other department 
of gardening—it is to be hoped, we repeat, that they 
have not found the attention required in the summer’s 
culture altogether uninteresting. We can fancy how 
a keen-set amateur, bent on following out principles 
in preference to mere rules, must inwardly rejoice 
when, from the adoption of the platform or dwarfing 
system, lie begins to perceive bis trees assuming a 
compact and short-jointed character; and those por¬ 
tions formerly a complete chaos, through the confu¬ 
sion of rival breast shoots, now studded with innu¬ 
merable fruit spurs, each maointoslied for the winter. 
Let any one who doubts the efficacy of dwarfing- 
plans carefully and truthfully compare the embryo 
blossom-buds on trees pampered, and those placed 
under a systematic control. Let him take a pear or 
a quince stock on a sound soil and subsoil of pre¬ 
scribed depth, and compare it with one of the same 
kind on a free stock in rich soil, with unlimited powers 
to range in quest of food. In the latter he will find 
a bloated tree possessing all the characteristics of a 
bush, fitting to stop a gap in the hedge: branches 
long, joints, or internodes, long—everything wild¬ 
looking. On the other hand, the same kind on the 
quince and placed under control, a compact, sturdy, 
short-jointed, and manageable tree, manifesting its 
properties at the first glimpse, viz., brown and well- 
ripened wood and abundance of plump fruit spurs: as 
different in aspect from the former as a London aider- 
man is from a Paris quack doctor. This is not ima¬ 
ginary ; it is a fact on which we have kept our eyes 
fixed for many years. 
But some critic will say, what has this to do with 
your text, “ the planting season ?” In answer, be it 
understood, we would fain pave the way to an en¬ 
larged amount of confidence in the principles which 
we would have carried out It is best, according to 
an old maxim, “to begin at the beginning,” and, 
whilst the season is young, we would impress on the 
minds of our readers that the planting season is the 
time for these considerations. It matters not who 
prunes or who dresses, for we could so plant a fruit- 
tree of any kind as to nullify and bid defiance to all 
the arts of the pruner—a tree always in perfect 
health, but for many years totally unproductive and 
unmanageable through inveterate grossness. If this 
be a fact, then, it is an illustration of, and a prelude 
to, the principles of planting which we intend ex¬ 
plaining. 
Mechanical Texture of Soils. —Apart from the 
question of manurial matters, and, as a preliminary 
step to the consideration of making plantations of 
fruit-trees, we may offer a few remarks on tliis head. 
Drainage, it is well known, exercises the most power¬ 
ful influence on the texture of water-logged soils. 
By removing superfluous moisture, a free admission 
is afforded to the ameliorating effects of the atmo¬ 
spheric action; but even the most thorough drainage 
will not suffice on many soils, as to fruit culture. The 
oozy and elastic bog wants consolidation, combined 
with a mechanical separation of its particles; the 
clay requires a gritty or sandy medium in order to 
permit the rains to percolate or slowly pass through 
it, and by consequence the air to enter freely; whilst 
the loose sandy soil requires some body to give adhe¬ 
sion to its parts, and, indeed, as the opposite of the 
clayey soil, to prevent the rain from passing through 
too rapidly, and carrying away manurial matters in 
its course. 
Those, therefore, who are about planting a whole 
garden, or section of one, at once, should thoroughly 
consider this question, and, after examining well the 
