Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-03-27
THE GARDEN.


We print below the instructions for
growing treo seedlings, as given by
Prof. B. E. Fernow, Chief of Foresty
Division of United States Department
of Agricultural:
1t may be set down as o rule, with few
exceptions, that it is preferable and in
the end more economical to grow seed
lings in the seed bed and nursery and
transplant them, than to SOW the seeds
in permanent sites.
Success in growing is attained,
first, by providing suitable conditions
for the sprouting of the seed, and,
secondly, by keeping up proper condi-
tions for the development 'of the seed
ling.
In order to know what the conditions
are, the planter should have some knowl-
edge of how the sprouting takes place
and how the Seeding develops and
grows.
Water, warmth, and air are necessary
to bring seeds to sprouting. Darkness
seems also to favor sprouting. To in
sure best results, the supply of heat and
moisture must be moderate but even and
constant. By keeping the earth-cover
above the seed loose, sufficient air can
penetrate to aid in dissoIving the food
materials in the seed, and the plantlet can
also more easily find its way to the sur
face and the light. In contact with the
moist warm soil, the outer she'll or seed
coat takes up water and swells until it
bursts; then the embryo, (germ or little
plantlet) which lies EMBEDDED in the
seed begins to grow, pushes downward
into the ground its rootlet and upward
to the light its stem and first leaves,
called seed leaves or cotyledons and
plumula (Which are often different in
shape from the later leaves.) The
quicker the sprouting proceeds, the less
danger of spelling the seed, to which it
is quite liable when lying in the ground
too long.
After the seed is sprouted and the
germ nourished into life by the food
stored up in the seed, the seeding must
provide its nourishment from outside.
This it takes partly from the soil and
partly from the air. From the air, car
bonic gas is taken up directly by the
leaves, in which it is changed into
vegetable substance under the influence
of light and heat. The food materials
contained in the soil must first be dis
solved so that the roots may be able to
take them up; for this again, water, heat
and oxygen (air) are necessary. The
food in watery solution is then conveyed
by the roots through the stem to the
leaves, which are the digesting apparatus
(the stomach as it were) of the plant.
Here, under the influence of light and
heat, the water in which the food WAS
dissolved is partly eyaporated Grams
pired) and the food assimilated, used in
forming vegetable substance, j. e. in
creasing the plant in size.
For the growth of the Seeding, then,
it is necessary that it should have at the
roots loose soil, rich in plant food,
into which the rootlets can penetrate;
water, warmth and air, In order to dis
solve the plant food; and at the leaves
light, warmth and air, in order to digest
and transform the plant food into veg
etable substance.
Transportation from the leaves, which
means giving up water to the air, is neces-
sary to make plants grow, but excessive
Transportation may kill the plants, and
insufficient Transportation may keep the
seedlings weak and undeveloped. or
even kill them. Hot air and strong light
make the leaves transpire greater guam
titles of water than when the air is cool
or saturated with moisture and the
plants are shaded. They also trans
pire more when the air is in motion than
when it is quiet; a certain degree of
circulation Of air, however, is as neces-
sary to plants as to human beings.
The main difficulty in growing seed
lings is to regulate Transportation, TO
keep the water supply at the roots and
the degree Of light and heat at the top
properly balanced.
Light and heat (or dry air) are the
task masters which make the leaves work,
evaporating the water that is supplied
at the roots. III the supply from the roots
runs short, the plantlet soon exhausts
itself in the endeavor Of satisfying its
task makers and dries up; and evenwith
ample supply Of water the task required
may be too much, and the delicate ma
cninery of the plantlet may not be able
to work fast enough and may break down
under too great strain. On the other
hand, if too much water be supplied at
the roots, they are liable with most
plants to rot. The supply Of moisture
at the roots must, therefore, be kept
even and moderate, while the rate of
Transportation may be regulated above
and kept in proportion by the use of
various contrivances.
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