376 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 13. 
They may bo gathered any time from October to April, 
but the earlier after the seed is ripe tho better. When 
the gathering is finished, then prepare a kiln to cause 
the cones to open and throw out the seed. The cone- 
kiln is very similar to a malt-kiln. The flooring is made 
of tiles with small holes in them, about nine feet from 
the fire, which should be made with coke or charcoal. 
Over these tiles a fine wire-cloth should bo stretched to 
catch the seeds. Then lay. tho cones on it, not more 
than a foot thick. The fire should be kept gently 
burning till the cones are all open. Then let some men 
turn them over once or twice, giving them a gentlo 
beating with sticks to cause all the seed to drop out; 
then rake off the cones and collect the seed. To make 
it quite clean and bright, sift the dust out of it through 
a sieve fine enough to retain all the seed. It may then 
be put into bags, and kept in a dry room till the sowing 
season. 
2. Preparing the Ground. —Apiece of very clean, light, 
sandy ground should be chosen for the nursery seed¬ 
beds. Many of our heathy moors would yield a few 
rods of excellent land for such a purpose. It should be 
carefully dug one spit deep early in the autumn ; every 
stone, Fern or Heath roots, and all weeds whatever, 
should be carefully and diligently picked out. If con¬ 
venient, a forecast of a year’s probation would be very 
desirable I moan, the taking off a crop of Potatoes, 
or Mangold Wurtzel, to cleanse the ground, would bring 
'it into fine condition as a seed ground. In the early 
part of winter this ground should be thrown up in 
ridges, to be pulverised and benefited by the frost. 
Then, the first week in April, weather permitting, let the 
ridges bo thrown down, and the whole piece thoroughly 
forked over, leaving it as smooth and level as possible. 
It is then ready for the sowing day. 
3. Sowing the Seed. —Choose a fine day, after there 
has been three or four dry days, and prepare, early in 
tho morning, the beds to receive the seed. Let the 
ground be laid out, with small sticks at each corner, in 
beds three feet wide, with alleys or walks between them, 
fifteen inches wide. I find these the most convenient 
widths, though, if the ground is plentiful in space, I 
would allow three inches more for the walks. When all 
the beds are set out, then take a rake made of aflat piece 
of board, eighteen or twenty inches long and four inches 
wide, bevilled to an edge next the soil; with this rake draw 
off the surface-soil of half the bed, half-an-inch deep into 
the alley, leaving the edge quite straight, then step into 
the opposite alley, and draw off half-an-inch from the 
other half of the bed into it, and so proceed till all the beds 
are done the same. In order to get the work done quickly, 
a second man should follow, scattering the seed on the 
beds. It may be sown rather thickly, just leaving space 
sufficient to allow each plant when they come up to 
stand by itself, for they must only stand one year in the 
seed-bed. Another very handy, dexterous man should 
follow the sower, with a cleau, bright spade ; with this 
implement he should make the soil in the alley very fine, 
and then take up a small portion at a time, and 
smoothly and evenly scatter it upon the seed, half-an- 
inch deep, without displacing it. (When the soil was 
very light, I have had the seed very lightly patted down 
with the back of the bright spade previous to covering 
it.) As soon as one bed is finished, then take a short- 
toothed rake, and level the soil very lightly with it; this 
must be done very lightly and carefully, or the seed will 
in places be uncovered; then place a line at the edge of 
the bed, two inches from the seed, chop down the side, 
and do every side the same throughout the whole; then 
rake the walks, and the operation will be neatly finished. 
4. Culture of Seedlings. —During the spring, should 
very dry weather set in, tho seed-beds must be watered 
every evening till gentlo showers come and supersede 
the necessity. The plants will make their appearance 
towards the end of May, and seedling weeds generally 
will come up with them. These must bo weeded out by 
a careful person while yet in the seed-leal, for il allowed 
to attain any size many young Larches will be drawn 
up with them. 
Hares and rabbits are exceedingly fond of tho young 
plants for food, therefore a fence that will keep them off 
is indispensable. A wall high enough to prevent them 
leaping over is the most effectual protection. 
I have been, porhaps, somewhat too particular in 
describing the necessary operations in this method of 
raising young Larches, but I do think full instructions 
in such an important matter is desirable, even at the 
expense of being thought prolix and tedious. 
5. Transplanting.— Whilst the seedlings are growing, 
the ground to transplant them into should be in a state 
of preparation. 1 know no better plan than that 
described above for the seed-ground, namely, a good and 
efficient digging the previous autumn ; a crop ol some 
cleansing vegetable, and the throwing up the ground 
into ridges the following autumn only; the levelling 
and forking process must be done as soon as the ground 
is dry enough in the spring. 
There are two ways of transplanting young Larch— 
one with an iron-shod dibber, making holes across the bed, 
and putting a plant in each hole ; and the other, what is 
called bedding-in with a spade. Now, I do not think it 
of much consequence which plan is adopted for one-year 
seedling Larch; indeed, I am rather inclined for the 
dibber plan, because the young Larch has seldom any 
branching roots, and, therefore, they are not cramped 
by being dibbled in. Tt is, besides, a much quicker 
operation. Whichever plan is adopted, here they may 
remain for two years, and the only care they require 
is to be kept well weeded. After that time they should 
be taken up and transplanted into nursery rows, one- 
aud-a-half feet wide, and a foot apart in the rows. In 
two years time they will be well rooted, and tall enough 
to plant in their final situation in the wood or forest. 
T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
SOWING SEEDS. 
Although the wintry appearance of the weather, at 
the time I write (the last day in January), almost forbids 
the hope that the ground will be in a condition fit to 
receive seeds by the time this number of The Cottage 
Gaiidener reaches its readers, yet we all know that 
sudden and unexpected changes do now and then take 
place, and though it may not be so sudden as to enablo 
the cultivator to work on every soil, yet it may, perhaps, 
bo done on the lightest and driest, and, in due time, on 
the others in succession ; I, therefore, this week offer a 
few notes on the sowing of seeds in general, with such 
other remarks as their cases may require. 
In the first place, the condition of the ground is to be 
taken into consideration as being of paramount im¬ 
portance ; for although our native trees and wild plants 
ripen their seeds, which are often distributed by the 
winds, and grow in places far from promising, still it must 
be remembered, that these plants or trees are indigenous 
with us; and the manner in which they reproduce them¬ 
selves is the one Nature intended for them. This is not 
the case with many productions of the garden, which, 
being the improved varieties of plants natives of more 
favoured climes, may, reasonably enough, be expected to 
require a little more care in their cultivation; yet it is 
surprising to see how plants from the temperate regions 
will ondoavour to accommodate themsolves to the altered 
circumstances in which they are placed. 
Most annuals which ripen their seed with us out-of- 
doors will, if left alone, sow them and reproduce them- 
