Missouri Botanical 
Garden Bulletin 
“Growing Plants from Seeds” 
With the beginning of the year the new used cata- 
logues make their appearance, and advertisements in 
magazines invite those interested to send for copies. Upon 
turning the pages of the catalogues the imagination of 
the gardener is excited, and he sees in his mind’s eye 
his beautiful garden the following summer. However, 
the georgeous illustrations and the many glowing des- 
criptions of plants often arouse higher expectations than 
he is able to achieve. So often he blames the seedsman 
for the poor quality of the seed when they fail to germi- 
nate, but the fault is really his in not knowing how to 
start the plants. It is true that old seed sometimes find 
their way to various stores where they are kept from 
year to year, BUT IF BOUGHT FROM RELIABLE 
FIRMS or from racks where the seed are guaranteed to 
be fresh, FAILURE TO GROW PLANTS MUST BE LAID 
TO IGNORANCE OF GARDEN PRINCIPLES. The 
object of this article, with accompanying illustrations, 
is to help the home gardener with his problems in rais- 
ing plants from seed. 
The seedsmen’s catalogues are improving every year, 
both in illustrations and descriptions. Some firms issue 
catalogues which contain much helpful information with 
each kind of plant listed; others have instructions printed 
on the seed packets, and still others include cultural 
leaflets with every shipment of seed. One small packet 
of a variety usually contains all the seed necessary for 
the average garden if they are started indoors. If the 
seed are sown directly outdoors allowances must be made 
for the many obstacles that often prevent the seedlings 
PUDOR’S, INC., PUYALLUP, WASH. 
