ARRANGING SEED BEDS----PROPER SOILS----SOWING THE SEED - VARIETIES.

Third Paper.

DEPENDENCEupon one'sself is a strong essential of work in the garden. We may read volume upon volume of horticultural lore and our friends may load us down with advice, but the knowledge thus obtained would benefit little if we failed to personally put it to actual and practical use in the garden.

The complaint is often made by youthful workers in the garden, that the state of the weather spoils their work. "Oh ! had it not been for the warm weather I would have had some beautiful balsams," exclaimed one of our young friends. Yet when we come to examine that bed of balsams we find indisputable proofs of neglect. The top soil is hard and baked, showing that it had not been loosened as it should have been, while the drooping stocks and faded blossoms show the want of water.

One important lesson that young gardeners must learn before they may hope for any great degree of success in their work, is that all plants require CARE, as do all things which have life. Nature will do her part, but we must not forget that we have largely taken the work of caring for garden plants out of the hands of Nature. While in their unimproved state they were provided for in all their needs, but when we take from Nature's forests her honeysuckle and woodbine, for example, and transplant them into cultivated soils, we must, so far as possible, supply the care they had in their natural state and element. Naturalists take from their native haunts the wild-cat and lynx, but do not let them lay and purr under a warm kitchen stove, nor feed them on milk or scraps from the table as they do the domesticated cat of our households. On the contrary, for the preservation of the animal its keepers supply so far as possible the food and treatment of its natural habitat. True, the progeny may in course of time be brought to the contentment of our domesticated animals, and thrive under similar care, as will plants under the influences of propagation and hydrization.

A good gardener will become familiar with any contemplated work before it is begun, so we will commence our task of seed sowing on paper before it is time to begin operations in the garden. Last month we told you how to make and prepare the hot-beds. We learned that the prime object of the hot-bed was to form a place where seed might be germinated and plants raised long before the weather would admit of the seed being put in the open ground. The proper soil is most important, especially in growing from seed. While most plants when large enough to transplant into the open ground will do well in ordinary garden soil, either moderately light or heavy, the soil in which the seed is sown, either in the greenhouse, hot-bed or window, should be light. Many beginners have bitterly complained of poor seed, when as a matter of fact they had so covered the seed with heavy soil that it was utterly impossible for the tender seed shoot to push through it and show its head above ground. After expending its vitality in a vain effort to come through the soil it "died back" and was lost. Of course it is fully understood that all seeds do not germinate, and that many times we are liable to obtain worthless seeds.

With the best of soil and all the advantages which a greenhouse gives, we have had quantities of seed that failed to germinate. For use in planting seed, and especially under glass, we have found that a soil composed of sod, manure, loam and light sand thrown into a heap and turned over and over several times during the year was the best obtainable, but as every one cannot prepare such a soil they must do the best they can with that at command. Soggy or clayey soil should not be used for seed-growing under any circumstances. Produce soil as light as possible, and if it is inclined to be heavy, mix sufficient sand with it to obtain the desired lightness.

It will be found a good plan to secure as an adjunct to the hot-beds, the kitchen windows which we spoke of last month, for there are many plants we may raise from seed, in the window, before it is desirable to begin operation with the hot-beds.

Oftentimes small pots are used in which to start seeds, but we do not consider them so desirable as shallow boxes. Such boxes may be easily made by cutting soap-boxes in half; or, if but few seeds are to be raised, shallow cigar-boxes will answer the purpose nicely.

We must now consider whether we want to raise more largely of flowering plants than of vegetables, and this must be determined by the wants of the people who are to be our customers. If the people in the neighborhood are in the habit of buying plants in the spring for summer blooming, of course you want to supply the demand. The business talent of our young gardeners will show in these things, for all business is governed by the law of supply and demand. We can easily see that it would be folly to spend our time and money raising vegetable plants to the exclusion of all else, when the demand was almost entirely for flowering plants. Bearing this in mind we must go deeper into details and, so far as possible, supply the particular kinds for which there is the greatest demand. This is rather difficult to do at first, and indeed at any time, for the plant and tree purchasing public are capricious. Last year perhaps they may have bought in one section almost entirely of petunias, in another nearly all of verbenas. The coming season it is quite likely that they may want neither of these species, but demand phloxes and asters.

The only way out of the difficulty is to grow and have for sale a good stock of the standard kinds, and, if you should secure a strain of some plant unusually nice, say Phlox Drummondi, in a locality where it is not generally known, you may by judicious talk induce each of your customers to try a few plants of that kind.

Returning to our shallow boxes for the window, they should be filled to within a half inch of the top with the soil prepared as directed, and this soil firmed down. In sowing the seed the depth of covering depends on the size of the seed. A good general rule is to cover the seed about its own depth. The beginner would perhaps do best if guided by the directions printed on the seed packets. After the seed is sown the soil in the box must be kept moist at all times ; if allowed to get dry there is great danger of the seed being made worthless. Panes of glass laid over the box will assist in retaining moisture and in germination.

When the young plants have grown so that the first leaves are good and strong, the plant will then be an inch to two inches high, and should be transplanted in light soft soil to pots or to other shallow boxes, as preferred. These pots or boxes may be set in one of the hot-beds, where if given proper attention they will thrive nicely.

This proper attention consists mainly of the management of the hot-bed sash and water. Every hot-bed should be provided with some sort of covering which may be laid over the glass at night. Large gardeners have shutters made of wood, or mats braided out of straw. For the beginner pieces of old carpet will answer nicely. In the morning when the sun gets warm, say about ten o'clock, the sash of the bed should be raised a few inches to admit the air, which is one of the requisites to the successful growth of plants. The length of time which the sash should be allowed to remain raised and the height it is raised will depend upon the weather entirely. In March and early April, in the vicinity of New York, the sash should rarely be left up later than three o'clock. If the i indications are that the night is to be a cold one the sash should be lowered early in the afternoon and the whole covered with the old carpet. Of course, as the weather gets warmer, the sash may be left up longer. The young plants should be faithfully attended and watered each day.

The manner of seed-sowing and the soil in the hot-bed is the same as for the box in the window.

We have now reached the point of selecting the seeds and finding out when to sow them. I hope the young reader will follow closely what is said on this subject, for many mistakes are made purely from ignorance on this point. For example, many beginners have an idea that if seed is not sown at a given period it is useless to sow it at all. This is not so, for while it is necessary to sow seed early of some kinds of plants, if we would have the plants early, if sown a month later the result would be simply that the season of bloom would be correspondingly late. Of course judgment must be used, for seed of verbenas, for example, sown in July would be of little use that season. Then there are the mistakes made on the other side of the same question. The beginner will sow large quantities of seed in early March and none afterward. With some kinds this course would be all right, but when one desires a succession of flowers or of plants as we generally do, they must be raised at different intervals. This point the commercial gardener must thoroughly understand and work accordingly.

For example, the latter part of February we would sow petunia seed in our seed boxes or hot-beds. These would bloom in pots or in the garden in May and June, early enough for your customers who want flowers early and who are willing to take the risks of early, or rather late frosts and cold rains. In March early, and again at the last of the month, and early in April, we would sow seeds for later blooming. The periods are about the same for sowing seed of snap-dragon, verbenas, asters, phlox and other plants; while with balsams, there is no necessity of sowing the seed under glass or in a warm indoor place at all, unless to sell them in pots, when they may be sown in the pots in April.

As we are supposed to be in this business to make money, we must aim to supply our customers with such plants as they may desire, so that I would advise the young gardener to obtain the catalogues ■0 of the seedsmen and florists, and read over the list of plants which may be grown from seed. Besides these I have already named, the following may all be grown from seed and are in more or less demand by lovers of flowers: Nasturtiums, alyssum, lantana, zinnia, pansy, feverfew, carnations, lobelia, larkspur, etc. We must be prepared to grow these plants in quantities, to supply the demand. If by any chance we should get a large supply on hand for which we have no sale, we have yet our own garden to look out for, and from which we expect to make money, as will be shown in our next paper, when we will also take up the raising of vegetable plants, and other operations.

The writer would be glad to answer any questions of interest to the young reader of this series of papers, either by mail or through the columns of The American Garden. I am more than willing to help any who are in earnest in this work, in any way in my power. Any communications addressed to me in care of the publishers of this magazine will reach me. Geo. R. Knapp.

(to be continued).