February 21 , 1903. 
The Gardening World 
GENERAL NOTICES. 
We would earnestly urge secretaries of societies to notify us as far in advance as possible as to dates of meetings, shows, etc. We desire to do all in our power to have these 
dequately represented in the columns of 1 he Gardening World. 
We respectfully request "ur readers, when they write to persons or firms advertising in this paper, to mention that their advertisement was seen in The Gardening World 
' hey will thereby not only oblige this paper, but the advertisers. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“All knowledge is of nse to the gardener, if rightly applied; but no knowledge is of any use as applied wrongly.”—foster. 
Weekly Prize 
FOR < 
Short Articles, < 
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THE BEST PARAGRAPH, or SHORT ARTICLE, Sent / 
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sent in. The paragraph, or article, must not 
EXCEED ONE COLUMN IN LENGTH, but the Value, 1 
rather than the length, of the article will be ( 
considered in making the award. Competitors S 
may send in items of news or comments on ; 
news; hints of practical interest to gar- \ 
deners or growers of plants, fruits, or flowers; ( 
successful methods of propagating plants { 
usually considered difficult; or contributions S 
ON ANY SUBJECT COMING WITHIN THE SPHERE / 
of gardening proper. Letters should be < 
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Photographic I 
Competition. 1 
A Prize of Two Guineas will be awarded for 
the best photograph, sketch, or water-colour ) 
drawing sent in for reproduction by readers ; 
before February 28th, subject to the following ? 
conditions:—(1) That the Editor's judgment < 
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or drawing be accompanied by the following ) 
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Views and Reviews. 
The Testing of Seeds. 
Not many gardeners, we presume, have 
ever done anything towards the testing of 
seeds for the purpose of determining their 
vitality or germinating capabilities, saving, 
of course, in the erdinary way of raising or 
trying to raise the various seedlings neces¬ 
sary for then’ cultures. A few, we doubt 
not, have determined the germinating capa¬ 
bilities of certain, things to a nicety. Most 
are satisfied if they get a gGod “ braird ” in 
the pots or pans they may have sown, and if 
the seedlings are sufficiently numerous to 
meet their requirements they are satisfied. 
To test seeds properly, a hundred, or fifty, or 
twenty-five, according to their Siize and that 
of the pots or pans in which they are to be 
germinated, should be sown; and the number 
that germinate should be counted to ascertain 
what percentage of them come up. For in¬ 
stance, if 100 are sown and sixty-five of them 
should germinate, that is the percentage. If 
twenty-five are sown and twenty should come 
up, we say that 80 per cent, of them are 
good. That would be a good percentage for 
some kinds, but only moderate for others, so 
much depends upon the kind under trial. 
Some plants, even in our climate, would give 
a much higher percentage than that, particu¬ 
larly if they have been properly cleaned by 
the seed farmer or gardener or nurseryman 
who has grown them. 
The vitality of seeds depends on various 
circumstances. Much depends upon the 
kinds, also upon climatic conditions, which 
vary from year to year and from day to day. 
The diying and cleaning also exercise a cer¬ 
tain influence upon them. Certain seeds 
retain their vitality only for a certain time, 
and if kept too long before being sown they 
perish. Some require to be sown or com¬ 
mitted to moist soil as soon as they are ripe, 
or they will take a long time to germinate, 
and may not give rise to a single see'dling. 
All these things must be borne in mind by 
those who undert ake the testing of seeds, 
otherwise they cannot give a correct report 
upon results. The would-be raiser must 
have a good knowledge of the subjects he is 
growing; otherwise his determinations 
cannot, in the nature of tilings, be con¬ 
sidered reliable. All seeds have their likings 
in the matter of temperature, and if placed 
where the temperature is either too high or 
too low they will fail more or less completely 
in coming up to’ expectations. Here, again, 
the skill of the operator himself is put to the 
test ; and the fault, if any, would rest with 
him, not with the seeds. The proper degree 
of moisture under which the seeds should be 
kept both before and after germination is 
also vital. Seeds, according to their kind, 
must not be buried beyond a certain depth, 
otherwise they will fail to germinate. Here, 
then, we have three conditions, the proper 
observance of which or otherwise will deter¬ 
mine the life or death of the embryo. After 
germination has taken place a fourth con¬ 
dition comes into play—namely, light, or 
the proper degree of illumination for the 
healthy growth of the seedling or baby plant. 
The cultural capabilities or knowledge and 
experience of the gardener or would-be raiser 
of seedlings are put to the test in the proper 
observance of all these conditions, and if he 
is found wanting in any of these respects his 
success cannot be great, even if every seed 
were perfect at the commencement of the 
trial. 
In the ordinary operations of gardening, 
the various kinds of seeds are sown and 
placed in propagating cases', pits, stoves, 
frames, or otherwise, as the case may be; and 
in all these instances the seeds are sown in 
soil in the ordinary way. On the other hand, 
the germinating power of seeds may be, and 
is, tested on a large scale without the 
medium of soil at all. Chickens are hatched 
from eggs by artificial means, by an inven¬ 
tion termed an incubator, which is simply a 
case kept at a certain temperature by means 
of a lamp or small stove. Large seed houses 
have a similar contrivance for germinating 
seeds in order to test their capabilities in 
that respect. It is simply a case artificially 
heated in order to maintain the requisite 
temperature. Wooden trays or shelves are 
fitted up as receptacles for pieces of flannel 
or cloth that will hold moisture. These 
