126 THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



raising tb'em than we have, if they would only do as we do, firm the 

 seed after sowing. 



" It is done thus : After plowing, harrowing and leveling the land 

 smoothly, lines are drawn by the marker, which makes furrows about 

 two inches deep and a foot apart. After the man who sows the seed 

 there follows another who with the ball of the right foot presses down 

 his full weight on every inch of soil in the drill where the seed has 

 been sown, the rows are then lightly leveled longitudinally with the 

 rake, then a light roller is passed over it, and the operation is done. 

 By this method our crop has never once failed, and what is true of 

 celery and cabbage seed is nearly true of all other seeds requiring to 

 be sown during the late spring or summer months. 



" On July 22nd, 1874, as an experiment I sowed twelve rows of 

 sweet corn and twelve rows of beets, treading in after sowing every 

 alternate ro\v of each. In both cases those trod in came up in four 

 days, while those unfirmed remained twelve days before starting, and 

 would not then have germinated had rain not fallen, for the soil was 

 dry as dust when planted. The result was that the seeds that had 

 been trodden in grew freely from the start, and matured their crops to 

 a marketa^jle condition by fall, while tlie rows unfirmed did not 

 mature, as they were not only eight days later in germinating, but the 

 plants were also to come extent enfeebled by being partially dried in 

 the loose dry soil 



"This experiment w^as a most useful one, for it proved that a corn 

 crop grown in the vicinity of New York as late as July 22nd could be 

 made to produce roasting ears in October, when they never fail to .sell 

 .at high rates; but the crop would not mature unless the seed germinated 

 at once, and which would never be certain at that dry and hot season 

 unless by this method. The same season in August I treated seeds of 

 turnip and spinach in the same way, those trod in germinated at once 

 and made an excellent crop, while the unfirmed germinated feebly, and 

 were eventually nearly all burned out by a continuance of dry hot air 

 penetrating through the loose soil to the tender rootlets. 



" Of course this rule of treading in or firming seed>s after sowing 

 must not be blindly followed. Very early in spring or late in the fall 

 when the soil is damp, and no danger from heated dry air, there is no 

 necessity to do so, or even at other seasons the soil may be in a suitable 

 •conditioii to sow, and yet be too damp to be trodden upon or rolled. 



