HOW TO SAFELY RAISE VERY FINE SEEDS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 5, 31 January 1912, Page 40

HOW TO SAFELY RAISE VERY FINE SEEDS.

Here is a “wrinkle" for your readers who grow petunias from seed. The trouble with raising petunia seed, especially in hot weather, is the constant

attention in watering to prevent the tins plant* from shrivelling up. If tinplan of covering the seeds with lifted -oil i- pursued, the trouble i* overdoing it. and -mothering them. I prefer to -<»w on the surface ami not cover, except with a sheet of glass and a sheet of paper over tli.it. t.iking the paper off w hen germin.ll ehi ba- well started. and the gla— two or three day- later. I 0--.1 a fine -pra\. an “Alxd” brass hand -pra\. which I found particularly good. Xot w ith-tanding all my pr<*rautionts. however, a hitch of seed would l*» neglected b\ one of my employee*, and shrivel up. or the spray would Im* carelessly n-»d ami the seed driven all to the -ide of the pan, and either washed over or covered over, and a poor per-

centage result. I, therefore, cast about for some more (1 was nearly saying ‘•fool proof’’) perfect system, and eventually proved the following to l>e a safe and reliable plan: — In making up the seed pan of sifted soil, put a layer Ain thick of sphagnum moss near the surface, and cover with about £in or lin of soil: sow the seed, begonia, petunia, etc., on the surface, leaving a hole about lin over and 2in across, into which rain water can be poured, and the moss well soaked as often as required; this keeps the top layer of soil constantly moist without any other watering until the majority of the seeds have made the first pair of leaves and struck a root down; after that it is an advantage to spray overhead and still lightly water the moss. Since adopting this plan I've had very satisfactory results, and a very much greater percentage of seedlings. —F. Caley Smith.