390 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, [1 May, 1898. . 
contained in it cast to the bottom; the matter, too, which has been held not in 
chemical solution but in suspension, falls to the bottom instead of being spread 
over the leaves of your plants. You will see from this that it is a good plan 
to leave in the bottom of the receptacle a layer of some porous material which 
can be removed now and then, and in the spaces between which the sediment 
may settle and so escape being stirred up by the water-pot. 
The covering of this house is just high enough to enable one to walk 
comfortably beneath it. The nearer it is to the seeds the better. It consists 
of ti-tree branches. They are threaded amongst strong wires, which are 
stretched across the roof about 18 inches apart and strained. By being on 
wires and so easily to be got at, it is quite easy for one ina few minutes to thread 
ma few more branches to increase the shade at a given spot, or to gradually 
withdraw the shade as the young plants become more able to bear the sun, 
There is no mistake more fatal or more commonly made than that of 
imagining that because plants grow in shade under natural conditions that the 
shade cannot be too dense; as a matter of fact, if it is evenly distributed it 
can hardly be too light. It is not the light which some plants detest, but the 
direct rays of the sun. Most plants known as bush-house plants can be grown 
to a far greater degree of perfection in a place perfectly open to the light but 
exposed only to the morning sun than they are seen to attain in shaded 
structures. Hven avery moderate degree of continued shade wil! kill that rampant 
plant, “nut grass.” It cannot exist for any length of time in a shade-house, 
no matter what hold it previously had of the spot. It must be remembered 
that, even for plants which love shade, the shade in their natural haunts varies 
from month to month, as the vegetation above and around them varies, or the 
intensity of the sun’s rays waxes and wanes. 
Most seeds will not germinate under dense shade, and when they can be 
induced to do go the poor little spindle-shanked seedlings soon wither and die. 
When you see, as you often may, all the seedlings in a box or pot leaning in 
one direction and stretching out their tiny whitened stalks and leaves with just a 
suspicion of green in them, you know, if you understand the language of the 
plants, that they are echoing the cry of Goethe, “ More light!’ It is often 
said that plants will not grow under living shade. They will if it can be 
maintained at the correct density, but this is found in practice to be impossible 
or nearly so. 
You see this bed packed with boxes of earth, in some of which small 
seedlings are appearing. Some are palms, and their curiously plaited leaves 
of a delicate tint of green appear above ground. They will remain in the boxes 
for some time. They act as if they were not quite sure of their reception in 
this cold world, and linger for some time before they venture beyond the seed- 
ling stage. Others are annuals. ‘They are ina hurry. They have only a few 
months to grow, flower, perfect their seeds, and die. ‘They are the butterflies of 
the plant world. They live their little day at fever heat. You must not leave 
‘them too long in the seed-boxes. Above all, you must not leave them too long 
under shade. Their forefathers came: up with the first flush of spring, before 
the tender herbage had foliage enough to shade them, and if these, their 
descendants, are not treated to like conditions they take the only revenge in 
their power—they die. Let us begin at the beginning and trace the history of 
that box of seedlings. They are annuals, and the seed was gathered, most 
probably, in Germany or Belgium, where large areas are devoted to the 
purpose of seed-raising. The greatest care has been taken to obtain sceds 
only from the very healthiest and sturdiest plants. A continual process of 
selection is going on. Does a plant show any improved quality of flower 
or habit, the seeds are most carefully preserved and sown, and seeds 
again procured from these. By this system of selection many of the 
improved yarieties with which our gardens teem have been obtained. But, 
not only is great care exercised in the selection and cultivation of the 
plants to bear the seed, it is recognised that shrivelled, light seeds can- 
not produce good plants, no matter from whence they are obtained; and 
