86 
H Oils e & Garden 
Prompt action in equipping 
hot beds and cold frames with 
Sunlight Sash will mean much 
larger profits at marketing time. 
Two layers of glass enclosing an 
air space form a transparent blanket 
which lets in all the sunshine and re¬ 
tains the warmth. Growing plants 
are thus expedited—not forced—and 
bring fancy early-season prices. Fig¬ 
uring time and expense eliminated by 
doing away with mats and shutters, 
profits are easily doubled. 
Plants grown under Sunlight Sash 
are pronounced “far superior’’ to any 
grown under single sash. “Good 
again as the others,” says Mr. J. H. 
McCormick of New Philadelphia, O. 
“Early in the field and early in the 
market.” 
At least that’s the experience 
of thousands of successful gar¬ 
deners all over the country who 
use it as standard equipment. 
A small inexpensive greenhouse made 
of Sunlight Double Glass Sash 
Write today for helpful catalogue 
and the present low prices. Immedi¬ 
ate shipment. 
Sunlight Double Glass Sash Co. 
944 E. Broadway LOUISVILLE, KY. 
Two layers of glass instead of one 
Put Youir Planting Problems 
Up To Meehan 
I INIeehan Service—personal, Individual service—superior because 
it is the result of sixty years of cumulative experience—is at 
your command. 
No matter whether your home grounds are large or limited in 
area, write us, question us freely. Your letter will be assigned to 
and answered by an expert plantsman, who has studied your sec¬ 
tion, knows its climatic and soil conditions, and will give you prac¬ 
tical and helpful suggestions accordingly. This preliminary advice 
is offered you without charge and without obligation. 
The Meehan Planting Plan for Average Places 
For the ordinary city or suburban lot, or for places up to one acre, we have 
devised a “New Property Data Form,” on which you can easily give us the 
information necessary to an intelligent consideration of your needs. When 
you write, ask for this form. 
Personal Calls 
Members of our staff are now planning their visiting routes for the 
next three months. One of them will soon be in your vicinity. If you will 
write us at once and say it will be agreeable, it is likely that he can arrange, 
without expense to you. to call on you while in your vicinity, inspect your 
property and talk the matter over with you in person. 
The Landscape Department 
In this connection, we offer a service of special interest to those whose 
grounds need periodical attention. Our Landscape Gardener will, if desired, 
prepare a written report covering his recommendations in detail; perhaps 
take data for plan work; set stakes for incidental plantings or the reconstruc¬ 
tion of a walk or drive, or arrange for the execution of any other landscape 
improvement contemplated. Because our business is countrywide, the cost 
of this sort of high grade professional service is brought to a minimum 
through distribution of expense over several visits in the same locality. It 
is always more than covered by the saving in avoiding mistakes and conse¬ 
quent loss of time and money. 
Thousands of Charming Homes 
all over the country owe their beautiful setting of Trees, Shrubs, and Hardy 
Flowering Plants to Meehan service and Meehan stock. This is planning 
time! Planting time will be here before you realize it. Better write us at 
once—to-day. Let us send you our unique Hand-Book of Trees, Shrubs and 
Hardy Flowering Plants for 1917. It is free. 
THOMAS MEEHAN & SONS 
6740 Chew Street Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa. 
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The Awakening of the Seed 
{Continued from page 54) 
operate, and what w’e, as Nature’s 
apprentices, must do to get the results 
which she succeeds in getting herself. 
There are rules, to be sure; but in 
gardening rules are unsatisfactory. 
There are too many exceptions, and 
the gardener who will take the trou¬ 
ble to study out the reasons and the 
underlying principles governing the 
grow'th of plants will have “luck” 
with him—or with her—a greater 
number of times than will the rule 
follower. 
What Is a Seed? 
Wonderful have been the inven¬ 
tions of man during the last two years 
for the destruction of life; but the 
most ingenious shell so far perfected 
is a crude thing compared with the 
little shell which a maturing plant 
shoots into the future, to insure the 
continuation of life. The automatic 
timing device by which it is to be 
exploded when right conditions occur, 
remains in working order for years, 
or even decades. The chemical in¬ 
gredients designed to accomplish the 
explosion are not only protected by 
the outer shell, but are packed away 
in insoluble forms that will keep in¬ 
definitely until, when the proper time 
arrives, and oxygen and hydrogen— 
in the form of water—are added to 
them, chemical action of the most 
complicated kind takes place, and 
starts the train of physical action and 
reaction which culminates in the pro¬ 
duction of an organism capable of 
sustaining itself and of growth. 
Merely as an e.xample of an ingenious 
contrivance, based upon known laws 
of physics and chemistry, the com¬ 
monest, most ignored little w'eed seed 
so far surpasses anything that jMan 
ever made that he may w’ell feel 
hopeless in ever trying to compete. 
The general conception of plant 
growth is that the seed merely carries, 
in some unknown way, the germ of 
life, and that it is the soil, “the holy 
earth,” that really does the trick 
when the seed is put into the ground 
to grow. This is far from being the 
case. The seed contains within itself 
elements which certain conditions are 
capable of transforming into a little 
plant, complete in lock, stock and 
barrel. kloisture and a certain 
amount of heat are the only outside 
agencies required. 
The first thing to fix in the mind, 
then, when we turn from the study 
of plant germination to how to make 
sure of getting results in actual prac¬ 
tice, is that the soil is only the 
medium in which the seed is to be 
given a chance to do its work, so far 
as the first stages of growth are con¬ 
cerned. To make sure of germinating 
our seeds successfully, then, we need 
a soil that will furnish abundant 
moisture, and supply it constantly: 
and, in addition, will not put physical 
obstructions in the way of the devel¬ 
oping seedling, which even under the 
best of conditions has a tremendous 
amount of work to do. In addition 
to that it is of the greatest importance 
that we supply tlie degree of heat 
which experience has shown, in any 
case, to be the most favorable to the 
transformation which must take place 
in the seed. 
If you will take a number of good 
seeds of any kind, and put them in 
cotton in a glass, with enough water 
at the bottom so that the cotton is 
kept constantly moist, and cover the 
glass almost entirely wdth a piece of 
cardboard before you put it in a 
temperature of from 60° to 80° (less 
warmth is needed for some seeds), 
you will find that practically every 
one will germinate and produce a 
small plant—roots, stem and leaves. 
If you will try this experiment, and 
keep the facts connected with it in 
mind, when you are putting the seeds 
into flats or seed pans for starting 
your plants, and aim to furnish con¬ 
ditions as nearly identical as possible 
with those given the seed in the 
cotton, you will be certain to succeed. 
Let us see how it works out: 
We want a constant supply of 
moisture; in order to furnish this 
the soil must have a high degree of 
absorption, or be spongy in its char¬ 
acter. Ordinary garden soil is not 
wholly satisfactory in this respect. 
We can make it so by adding some¬ 
thing of a more porous nature. The 
best grade of commercial humus is 
capable of absorbing several times its 
own weight of water, while average 
garden soil will absorb only about its 
OW'D weight. You can readily see, 
therefore, the advantage of making 
the compost in w’hich you expect to 
start seeds one-half to two-thirds 
humus mixed with the soil. While 
humus is usually the most available 
and convenient thing to use, leaf mold 
or chip dirt can be used in place of 
it, if you can get them readily. 
Proper Moisture Supply 
The next problem is that of keep¬ 
ing the soil moist, particularly on 
the surface where the small plant 
will be forming. If you had allowed 
the cotton in the glass in which you 
were experimenting with your seeds 
to dry out for any length of time, a 
day or two after the roots and the 
tiny stem had pushed out of the seed, 
you would have just seen what fre¬ 
quently does happen with seeds 
started in the soil. The seed germi¬ 
nates, the little plant begins to de¬ 
velop—and then the supply of moisture 
gives out and it dies in a few hours. 
The object in covering the glass with 
cardboard was to keep the surface 
of the cotton, and the air about the 
plant as well, saturated with moisture. 
A pane of glass put over the seed 
pan or the flat in which you are 
starting your seed will accomplish 
the same result. It forms a minia¬ 
ture forcing frame, preventing the 
air about the seedlings from being 
dried out by coming in contact with 
the drier atmosphere of the room or 
frame in which the seeds are being 
started. It should, however, not be 
put on quite tight, as it is essential 
to have fresh air as well as moisture 
available for the plants. 
If you mix up a soil such as that 
described, give it a thorough water¬ 
ing some hours before you plant, and 
keep it covered with the glass, you 
will find that most seeds will germi¬ 
nate before it is necessary to water 
them again. If watering is necessary, 
most likely it is only the surface of 
the soil that is dr3% and a moderate 
amount of water supplied carefully, 
with the finest spray you have avail¬ 
able, will be sufficient. 
Planting the Seed 
Each little seed that germinates has 
a herculean task sending its shoots 
up through the covering of soil into 
the light. The strength exerted by 
a sprouting seedling, in proportion to 
its size and weight in pushing through 
and throwing aside the soil particles 
in its struggle up to the' light, is one 
of the greatest marvels of this whole 
marvelous business. In comparison, 
Sandow was a puny weakling. And 
yet many gardeners thoughtlessly 
heap over their seeds a weight of 
soil through which there is no possi¬ 
bility' of their being able to struggle. 
The character of the soil with 
{Continued on page 88) 
