At 08:12 PM 8/31/2004 -0400, Arnold wrote: > > "I thought is was just dust so I vacuumed it all up" Thanks, Arnold, you just reminded me of something. There have been times when, while cleaning, sorting or otherwise working with very small seed such as poppy, begonia or gesneriad seed, I've dropped the whole lot onto the rug or floor. Here's an easy way to get most of it back: take a piece of cloth, put it over the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner and push it in a bit to form a shallow cup; then vacuum over the area where the seed is. The seed will collect on the surface of the cloth. Then hold the nozzle over a bowl, turn off the vacuum cleaner, and the seed will fall into the bowl. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where seed retrieved from the dust bowl generally requires careful winnowing.