396 VILLA GARDENING part v 



selection gives. In garden culture seeds should never be committed 

 to the land when it is in an unfit condition. In the short statements 

 upon the different vegetables which will follow this, the best times 

 to sow and plant will be given, but it should be understood that 

 everything should be subject to the condition of the soil. Better 

 — far better — to wait a week or longer and obtain a good tilth 

 than sow in an ungenial bed. In dealing with cold heavy land 

 the crop often derives very great advantage if the seeds can be 

 covered with a light suitable compost, which should be provided 

 for when the autumn clearing-up takes place. My usual plan is to 

 save the best of the charred material, which is not likely to have 

 any living seeds of weeds in it, for covering small seeds in sirring. 

 All seeds should be sown in drills, because of the advantages the 

 plan offers for surface stirring and cleaning, and seeds in drills are 

 easily covered. As regards 



The Proper Depth of Covering, this is one of the subjects 

 which cannot be definitely stated. The nature of the soil, the 

 season of the year, and the size of the seed will all have some 

 influence. Seeds sown early in the season should be covered very 

 lightly. Peas, for instance, planted in January, may be sown on 

 the surface, and have 2 inches in depth of the warm surface-soil 

 drawn over them ; but Peas sown in May will do better at the 

 bottom of a trench Avith 3 inches of soil over them. Turnips, 

 again, when sown in spring, should be in shallow drills ; but in hot 

 weather in June the drills should be deeper to give the roots of the 

 plants a chance to strike down into the moist soil below. If the 

 laud has been well i^repared the very smallest seeds -will easily push 

 through a quarter of an inch of light soil, though in many cases 

 less than that will suffice. 



Saving Seeds. — To a limited extent this is probably done in 

 all gardens — as in the course of time every person has some 

 favoured plant which he thinks is better than other people's, and 

 in order to retain it he must save seeds. Very great care is 

 requisite with the Cabbage tribe, as they are so easily hybridised by 

 insects, and the seedlings would be useless. Therefore only one 

 variety or species of the Brassica family should be allowed to flower 

 at the same time, if seeds are to be saved, unless they are some 

 distance apart. But having saved seeds from a good strain of 

 Cabbages or Brussels Sprouts, if they are kept car(!fully they will 

 last several years. There is some advantage in this, as then we 

 need only save seeds from one kind in one season. In saving 

 seeds from such things as Beet, Carrots, or Turnips, first of all 

 select one or two handsome roots, and save from them, sowing those 

 much later in the season than customary when one sows for a crop, 



