March 14th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
437 
sown plants are rare is the unusual hardness of 
the capsules, -which may be buried for months with 
impunity, and the seeds being uninfluenced by light 
and heat will remain dormant. Your correspondent 
will have no difficulty in flowering his seedling Phloxes 
in the autumn if they are pricked off into a bed of 
rich loamy soil, and liberally supplied with water in 
case of dry weather. It would not be wise, however, 
to discard any until the second flowering, as they will 
then have gained ample strength to produce good 
heads.— E. Jenkins. 
FLOWER SEED SOWING. 
How Seeds Gebminate.— It was once remarked 
that gardeners, as a rule, are, generally speaking, 
strangely indifferent to the why and wherefore. They 
procure seed, sow it, and wonder why its production 
should only be a very limited number of plants. And 
then in some instances they sit dow r n and write a 
passionate letter to then’ seedsman, reviling him for 
the seed-leaves are brought up out of the ground, so 
that they expand in the light and air, which is the 
proper place for leaves, as the dark, damp soil is for 
the roots. 
“ What makes the root always grow downwards into 
ground and the stem turn upwards, so as to rise out 
of it ? We no more know for certain than we know 
why newly-hatched ducklings take to the water at 
once, while chickens avoid it, although hatched under 
the same fowl and treated just alike. But the fast is 
always so. There are powerful determining forces 
operating to control these things, though we know 
not how. But the why is evident enough, for the 
root is thereby at once placed in the soil, from which 
it has to absorb moisture and other things, and the 
leaves appear in the air and light, where they are to 
do their work. 
“ It is worthy of notice how early the seedling-plant 
is complete, that is, becomes a real vegetable, with all 
its parts, small as the whole thing is. For it already 
possesses a root to connect it with the ground and 
enlarges and unfolds into a leaf; this soon is raised 
upon a new piece of stem, which carries up the leaf, just 
as the pair of seed-leaves were raised by the lengthening 
of the radicle or first joint of stem in the seed. Then 
another leaf appears on the summit of this joint of 
stem, and so on. And so the plant grows on the 
whole summer long, producing leaf after leaf, one by 
one, and raising each on its own joint of stem arising 
from the summit of the next below. 
‘ ‘ Growth requires food in plants, as well as in animals, 
to grow into a plant. The embryo in a seed must be 
fed with vegetable matter, or with something out of 
which vegetable matter can be made. When a plant 
has established itself, that is, has sent down its roots 
into the soil, and spread out some leaves in the air, 
it is then able to change mineral matter, which it 
takes in, into vegetable matter, and so to live and 
grow independently. But at the beginning, before its 
organs are developed and established in their proper 
places, the growing plant must be supplied by ready¬ 
made vegetable matter, furnished by the mother plant. 
mb. b. s. Williams’s ceoton and dbacjena house (see p. 440). 
sending seeds that do not grow—jumping to the 
conclusion that he, and he alone, is at fault. But 
how few ever consider how many causes there are, 
and how many really physical properties are required 
in the proper development of the plant. Professor 
Gray, referring on one occasion to the Convolvulus, 
said :—“ The seed first imbibes some moisture through 
its coats, swells a little, and, as it feels the warmth, 
the embryo gradually wakens from its long and deep 
sleep, and stretches itself, as it were, that is, the 
embryo lengthens and its end bursts through the 
coats of the seed; at the same time the two leaves 
it bears grow large, straighten themselves, and so 
throw off the seed-coats as a loose husk. This 
allows the seed-leaves to spread out, as leaves 
naturally do, and so the seedling plants stand 
revealed. At the very beginning of its growth the 
end of the little stem which first comes out of the 
seed turns downwards and points into the earth. 
From it the root is formed, which continues down¬ 
ward, branching as it grows, and burying itself more 
and more in the soil. The other end of the stem 
always turns upwards, and, as the whole lengthens, 
draw up what it needs for that; a stem to elevate the 
foliage into the light and air, and leaves to take in 
what it gets directly from the air, and to digest the 
whole in the light. It already has all the organs of 
vegetation, all that any plant has before blossoming, 
so that the little seedling can take care of itself and 
live just as any large plant lives upon the soil and 
the air. And all it has to do in order to become a full- 
grown plant, is to increase the size of its organs, and 
to produce more of them, namely, more stem with 
more leaves above, and more roots below. We have 
only to watch our seedling - plants a week or two 
longer, and we shall see how this is done. 
“ The root keeps on growing underground, and send¬ 
ing off more and more small branches or rootlets, each 
one adding something to the amount of absorbing 
surface in contact -with the moist soil. The little 
stem likewise lengthens upwards, and the pair of 
leaves on its summit grow larger. But these soon get 
their full growth, and we do not yet see, perhaps, 
where more are to come from. But now a little bud, 
called the plumule, appears on the top of the stem, 
just between the stalks of the two seed-leaves; it 
On this supply the embryo germinating from the seed 
grows and feeds just as the new-born animal does 
upon the mother’s milk, or as the chick developing 
in the egg does upon the prepared nourishment the 
parent laid up for the purpose in the yolk. 
“ Take a fresh Convolvulus seed and tear it open, or 
cut a dried one in two, and this supply will be seen in 
the form of a rich and sweetish jelly-like matter, 
packed away with the embryo, and filling all the 
spaces between its folds. This is called the albumen 
of the seed, and this is w’hat the embryo feeds upon, 
and what enables its little stemlets to grow and form 
its root downwards, and carry up and expand its seed- 
leaves in the air, and so become at once a plantlet, 
with a root, stem, and leaves, able to take eare of 
itself, just as a chicken does when it escapes from the 
shell. The moist, nourishing jelly would not keep 
long in that state, so when the seed ripens and dries, 
it hardens into a substance like thin dried glue or 
gum, which will keep for any length of time; and 
whenever the seed is sown and absorbs moisture, this 
matter softens into a jelly again, or gradually liquifies, 
and the seed-leaves crumpled up among it drink it in 
