Surface Moisture in 
Germinating Seeds 
By Percy H. Wright, Sask. 
The difficulties in germinating small seeds 
are two: one springing from the tendency 
of the soil, unless VERY sandy, to bake 
and crust over and thus form cracks, and 
the other, the expected result of having a 
dry surface soil. To solve the former 
problem, and the second, too, to some ex- 
tent, I have long practiced mulching the 
seed beds with sawdust and watering it 
down immediately to keep it from blowing 
away while still loose. The watering seems 
to pack it enough to make it‘‘stay put” even 
after it dries out again. Sawdust cannot 
be used for VERY small seeds, but only for 
those about as fine as honeysuckle seed. 
Tiny seeds cannot germinate in a material 
that dries out as quickly as sawdust does, 
and will prevent the emergence of plantlets 
that are unable to penetrate an inch or so 
of it and come to the surface. As everyona 
knows, one of the chief difficulties in start- 
ing small seeds, and medium small seeds, 
in beds out of doors, is the much quicker 
germination of weed seeds, particularly the 
seeds of dandelions and the various forms of 
pigweed. It is one of the chief merits of 
the sawdust covering that these and very 
fine-seeded weeds are prevented from emerg- 
ing, making the chore of keeping the seed 
bed clean very much easier. 
In 1947 and 1948 the spring seasons 
were very dry, so dry that even sawdust did 
not give enough covering of the soil to pre- 
vent it from drying out to below the depth 
the seeds were, before some of the slower 
types had had time to germinate. I was 
able to water a few of the seeds with the 
old watering can, but maintain too many 
seed beds to give that amount of labor to 
them all, and as I have no sprinkling syst- 
em as yet, the result has been two rather 
poor years for seed propagation. 
However, I observed that under the bushes 
of some hybrid roses the seed that fell from 
the hips just above has germinated readily 
and produced numerous plants from seed 
that must scarcely have been covered at 
all. As a consequence, I believe some shade 
is a very inexpensive way of providing sur- 
face moisture for the corisiderable periods 
that are needed by the slower seeds, and 
intend to nail up some lath shades to lay 
over the frames surrounding the seed beds. 
The seed beds of conifers at the Forestry 
Nurseries are commonly shaded by rolls 
of lath wired together so that about aa 
much space is left between laths as the 
width of the lath. These shades have to 
be taken off to let in the light and air when 
mildew threatens to take a toll of the plant- 
lets hidden below. 
I intend to put the lath on some of my 
frames still closer together, allowing a quart- 
er or less of the sunlight to reach the 
ground for some of them. Some seeds need. 
direct sunlight to germinate, but others are 
able to germinate in darkness or partial 
darkness. Those which can germinate with- 
out light might as well have as little as poss- 
ible, especially if they are naturally slow in 
germination and need surface moisture for 
considerable perio ds. Under the shades 
I will use sawdust still, for its value in pre- 
venting crusting. 
Very fine garden seeds, such as those of 
celery and Petunias, are best sown in flats 
or boxes indoors, and covered with a layer 
of burlap cut out of old potato sacks. Even 
though the seeds have been sown with no 
(Continued on Page 219) 
So many of the flower gardeners I know 
save all their weeds, grass leaves, etc., to 
make humus. My method is a little differ- 
ent to most gardeners, and believe it would 
be of interest to your readers. 
My container is 3 ft. by 3 ft. the lower 
part is a cement box or tank of 1 inch 
cement walls and bottom, with a piece of 1 
inch pipe, capped, inserted near the bottom 
at right hand corner. On top of this tank 
the crate is made in three sections, fitted 
one on top of the other for convenience in 
unloading. The slat floor is placed on the 
bottom of the tank, allowing the liquid fert- 
ilizer to drain out more readily. The round 
tank at side of crate is a large shortening can 
from the bakery that I covered with cement; 
it is set in the ground under the pipe or out- 
let to catch the liquid. This black liquid 
is a fine fertilizer or booster. 
Into this crate put all your garden refuse, 
E iumMs 
ryngiuUum 
Sea Holly excel as stately stiff-growing 
plants quite unlike any other garden subject. 
The plants make generous clumps of 
basal foliage from which spring stiff stems 
with leaves usually broad, spiny edged and 
often with prominent whitish veins. The 
height varing from 1-4 feet or more, de- 
pending upon the kind. 
They make fine displays with their bril- 
liant shades of blue in stems, bracts and 
flower heads in summer as well as in winter 
bouquets. 
E. alpinus, known as the alpine blue thistle 
is one of the best, grows to 4 ft, and best 
in limestone soils. 
E. Bourgatii grows to 18 inches, a heaven- 
ly blue color with a touch of pink. Its shade 
of blue is exceptional and is retained from 
June to August. =i 
E. Spinalba with its bluish silver color 
makes nice 2-3 foot plants. 
E. amethystinum, 2 feet high comes in a 
pleasing violet-blue color from June to Sept- 
ember. 
E. maritimum is really a good garden sort, 
best in a sandy soil but not hardy in the 
North. 
GET EVERY ISSUE — $2.00 PER YEAR 
209 
A Good California Compost Box 
By W. E. White, Monrovia, Calif. 
weeds, grass, leaves, house scraps, etc. When 
it becomes an additional foot high, stamp it 
down and wet it; then sprinkle with 1 lb: 
of Adco and keep it moist. (When the war 
was on I had to make my own mixture of 
nitrate, phosphate, potash and ground oyster 
shell; it worked fine.) By having a sectional 
crate it is easier to remove the thick rich 
humus fertilizer. 
I found it advantageous to have an extra 
container, so the upper part, which is only 
partly decomposed, can be tossed into this 
crate for a new start. My neighbour was 
so well pleased with my results that he built 
a tank and crate 10 ft. by 14 ft. 
My hobby is collecting flowering bulbs and 
for these bulbs I allow the compost to part- 
jially dry, then sift out all sticks and stones 
before using. It is also used in my mixture 
for seed boxes. 
In dry sections of the country like Calif- 
ornia, should be well sprinkled once a week. 
Franklinia Tree 
Your article in the July ’51 issue of 
Saier’s Garden Magazine by D. Todd Gres- 
ham, “The Beautiful Franklinia’, was of 
considerable interest to me. A number of 
years ago a lovely Franklinia flourished at 
Baker Mansion in Altoona, Pa., along with 
many. moss roses, shrub peonies and other 
fine plants. In a general clean-up these 
things were rudely destroyed. I had ob- 
tained several of the seeds, but they did 
not germinate. The tree was about 10 feet 
high, very thrifty and bloomed profusely. 
I hope to order seed from you later for 
I have always wanted a Franklinia of my 
‘own. 
My present seed order is sent in hopes of 
beautifing a large area of limestone rock, 
outcropping on a portion of land where we 
recently built our home. It is a lovely 
natural site, never cultivated. It is a chal- 
lenge and a thrill to plan for and plant such 
a plot. Our little greenhouse will also be 
of help in giving things an early start. 
Your magazine has been very helpful, 
especially in pronunciation. Am _ looking 
forward to further enjoyment as each new 
issue arrives. 
Mrs. Kensinger, Roaring Springs, Pa. 
Editor’s Remarks: Together with Mr. 
(Continued on Page 217) 
