54 
House S’ Garden 
Broken crocks, oyster shells, or other 
coarse, non-ahsorhent materials are placed 
in the bottom of the flat for drainage 
Then take a hit of board with a handle 
nailed to it and level off the entire surface, 
packing it firm but not really hard 
I N all this world of mystery, where nothing is 
commonplace except the things which are so 
nnfathomal)ly mysterious that we give up think¬ 
ing about them, there is no mystery more fascinat¬ 
ing and elusive than the reincarnation of plant life 
from the microscopic winding sheet of a seed. 
All reproduction is mysterious enough, but 
usually the thread of Life can he followed unin¬ 
terrupted from one generation to the next, even 
if it continues to baffle explanation. But with a 
seed it is different. What to all appearances is 
more dead, or rather more absolutely lifeless, than 
most seeds? On my desk as I write, there is the 
seed of a Nelumbium, found with its companions 
The next step is to add sphagnum moss or, 
in cases where this material cannot be ob¬ 
tained, straw may be used as a substitute 
THE AWAKENING 
OE THE SEED 
D . R . E D S O N 
This is the second of a series of articles by Mr. Edson on 
the really elemental points in successful gardening—the 
facts and operations which, while they may be as A B C 
to the experienced, are an unopened book to the beginner. 
With the present tremendous increase in the numbers of 
those who grow things for pleasure, every season sees a 
neiv company of novices who “want to know hozu.’* For 
them this scj'ies has been written so as to give, progres¬ 
sively from its simplest beginning, the whole story of the 
gardening game. The first article, last motith, told “How 
Plants Grow."'—Editor 
Into a cavern under the ground, 
I followed the Master of Magic Art. 
I watched him work with a skill profound; 
I spied on his secrets, and pried apart 
The locks on his treasures; I hid and heard 
Ilis muttered symbols and cr 3 -ptic chant; 
I noted each move and put down each word— 
But I can’t tell yet how he makes a plant! 
F. F. R. 
floating on the wonderful little raft which nature 
provides for seeds of this kind, near the shore 
of a lake far north of its usual habitat. Through 
what freak of Nature it got there, only that freaky 
Old Dame herself is aware! It is about the shape 
and the size of a small marble. I have kept it as 
a curiosity for some years. It has acquired a 
metallic polish and is as hard as,a piece of steel. 
A sharp knife blade forcibly applied will make 
no Impression upon it. There are many other 
seeds just as hard, although in shape they vary 
greatly. The next time you eat a date take out 
your pen-knife and try to cut the seed in two—• 
and yet the inconspicuous seeds of a fig j^ou 
swallow by the hundred with impunity! The 
seeds of an ordinary garden canna, and many 
sweet peas, are so hard one can with difficulty 
make any impression on them with a file. 
And yet Nature takes these flint-surfaced and 
lifeless objects, applies the magic touch—and 
presto! within a few short weeks from the sweet 
pea seed weighing but a very small fraction of an 
ounce, or from the canna seed, not much larger, 
she has produced a vine some score of feet in 
When the soil has been put in on top of the 
drainage material, pack it down with the 
fingers so as to get a firm foundation 
If the seeds are small, you can soiv them 
directly from the envelope in which they 
came, if you scatter them evenly 
length with hundreds of leaves and delicately 
fragrant flowers, or a tropical plant the height of 
a man and so firmly established in the soil that you 
will want a spading fork to take it up in the fall. 
You know that all seeds, in the natural course 
of events, will grow—under certain conditions. 
The very first duty of every gardener is to learn 
more about what these conditions are, and how 
they affect seed germination and plant growth. 
No one may know just why this change in en¬ 
vironment will produce this wonderful effect upon 
the unpromising containers of the germs of plant 
life, but we do know to a large extent how they 
{Continued on page 86) 
