mice, squirrels, blue-jays and other intruders.

Large nut-like seeds or fruits, like peach-pits, walnuts and hickory-nuts, are usually buried in sand or light loam where they will freeze. Or sometimes the large nuts are thrown into a pile with earth and allowed to remain on the surface. Freezing serves a useful purpose in aiding to crack the shells, but it is not essential to subsequent germination, as is commonly supposed. All seeds, so far as known, can be grown without the agency of frost if properly handled.

Fall sowing amounts to stratification, but unless the soil is mellow and very thoroughly drained the practice is not advisable. The seeds are liable to be heaved or washed out, eaten by vermin, and the soil is apt to bake over them. Under proper conditions, however, the seeds of fruits and many forest trees thrive well under fall sowing. The seeds should be sown as soon as they are ripe, even if in mid-summer; or if the ground is not ready for them at that time, they may be temporarily stratified to prevent too great hardening of the parts. It is best, however, to allow all green or moist seeds to dry off a few days before they are stratified. Fall sown seeds should always be mulched.

Some seeds rarely germinate until the second year after maturity, even with the best of treatment. The thorns, mountain ash, hollies, viburnums, some roses, and many others belong to this category. Some growers sow them regularly as soon as they are ripe and allow the beds to remain until the seeds appear. This is a waste of land and of labor in weeding, and the best way is to stratify them and allow them to remain until the second spring before sowing.

Partial substitutes for stratification are soaking and scalding the seeds. Soaking may be advantageously practiced in the case of slow and hard seeds, which are not enclosed in bony shells, and which have been allowed to become dry. Seeds of apple, locust and others of similar character, are sometimes treated in this manner. They are soaked for 24 or 36 hours, and it is commonly supposed that if they are exposed to a sharp frost in the meantime, better results will follow. While still wet the seeds are sown. Scalding water may be poured over locust and other seeds to soften their covering. But seeds should not be boiled, as sometimes recommended.

Fig. 7. Bored Seed.

The germination of bony seeds is often facilitated by filing or cutting away the shell very carefully near the germ, or by boring them. A bored nelumbium seed is shown in Fig. 7.

Treatment with various chemicals has been recommended for the purpose of softening integuments, and also for some power which strong oxidizing agents are supposed to exert in hastening germination itself, but the advantages are mostly imaginary. Secret and patented “germinator” compounds had better be avoided.

Pulpy and fleshy coverings should be removed from seeds before sowing. Soft fruits, like berries, are broken up or ground into a pulp and the seeds are then washed out. This separation may be performed immediately in some cases, but when the pulp adheres to the seed, the whole mass is usually allowed to stand until fermentation and partial decay has liberated the seeds. The pulp will then rise, in most instances, leaving the seeds at the bottom of the vessel. Seeds can be liberated quickly by adding a stick of caustic potash to each pail of water. After the mass has stood an hour or so, the seeds can be rubbed out easily. Even tomato seeds can be cleaned with safety in this manner. Seeds which have thin coverings, as the viburnums and many haws, can be prepared by rubbing them through the hands with sharp sand. Or the scant pulp of such seeds may be allowed to rot off in the stratification box. Fleshy coverings of hard and bony seeds may be removed by maceration. Allow them to stand in water at a temperature of about 75° for one to three weeks, and then wash them out. Resinous coverings are sometimes removed by mixing the seeds with fresh ashes or lime, or by treating them with lye. Hard, thick-walled seeds are rarely injured by the decay of the pulpy covering, but thin-walled seeds should be cleaned, to avoid the possibility of damaging them.[A]

Sowing.—The soil in which seeds are sown, especially in in-door culture, should be such as to allow of perfect drainage and at the same time to hold moisture. Good potting soil, with a liberal allowance of sharp sand, is the best for general purposes. Pure sand becomes too dense, and leaf mold alone is usually too loose and open. A proper combination of the two corrects both faults. It is impossible to describe a good potting or seed-bed soil. Some experience is essential to the best results in preparing it. It should be of such character that when a damp portion is firmly compressed in the hand it will fall apart when released. It should never bake. Good old garden loam, to which an equal quantity of sand has been added, is usually a good soil for common in-door seedage. There should be no manure in soil used for seeds which produce a delicate growth, as rhododendrons and kalmias. In all such cases, rotted sod or leafy peat forms the best basis. The soil should be sifted and thoroughly fined before seeds are put into it. Seeds usually require lighter soil than that in which the growing plant will flourish. Cocoanut fiber is sometimes used in place of the soil, as it holds moisture, allows of almost perfect drainage, and does not become “sour.” Fine dead sphagnum moss may also be used. Orchid seeds are usually sown on the live moss in which the parent plant is growing; or they may be sown on damp wood or cork. (See under Orchids, Chap. VI.) Small seeds, like those of cineraria and calceolaria, germinate well in very old cow-dung obtained from a pasture; the unctuous matters have disappeared, leaving a fibrous remainder. But all things considered, well-prepared soil is the most satisfactory medium which can be used. Seeds of aquatic plants which are to be sown in a pond may be placed in a ball of clay and dropped into the water.

Shallow boxes or “flats” and earthen seed-pans and lily-pans are usually preferable to pots in which to grow seeds. They give more surface in proportion to their contents and require less attention in drainage. If pots are used, the four to six inch sizes are best.

If delicate seeds are sown out-doors, they should be given some protection, if possible. An ordinary hot-bed frame gives the best results. In warm weather or a sunny exposure it will be found desirable to substitute a cloth screen for the