BAG A CULTURE 



turnips, broad-cast, at Hyde Park, last summer, on the eleventh 

 of August, which did very well, though neither harrowed nor 

 rolled after being sown. But, in both these cases, there came rain 

 directly after the sowing, which battered down the seeds ; and 

 which rain, indeed, it was, which prevented the rolling ; for, that 

 cannot take place when the ground is wet : because, then, the 

 earth will adhere to the roller, which will go on growing in size 

 like a rolling snow-ball. To harrow after the sowing is sure to do 

 mischief. We always bury seeds too deep : and, in the operation 

 of harrowing, more than half the seeds of turnips must be 

 destroyed, or rendered useless. If a seed lies beyond the proper 

 depth, it will either remain in a quiescent state, until some move 

 ment of the earth bring it up to the distance from the surface, 

 which will make it vegetate, or, it will vegetate, and come up 

 later than the rest of the plants. It will be feebler also ; and it will 

 never be equal to a plant, which has come from a seed near the 

 surface. 



96. Before I proceed further, it may not be amiss to say some 

 thing more respecting the burying of seed, though it may here be 

 rather out of place. Seeds buried below their proper depth, do 

 not come up : but, many of them are near enough to the surface, 

 sometimes, to vegetate, without coming up ; and then they die. 

 This is the case, in many instances, with more than one half of the 

 seed that is sown. But, if seeds be buried so deep, that they do 

 not even vegetate, then they do not die ; and this is one cause, 

 though not the only cause, of our wondering to see weeds come 

 up, where we are sure that no seeds have fallen for many years. 

 At every digging, or even ploughing, more or less of the seeds, 

 that have formerly been buried, come up near the surface ; and 

 then they vegetate. I have seen many instances in proof of this 

 fact ; but, the particular instance, on which I found the positive- 

 ness of my assertion, was in Parsnip seed. It is a very delicate 

 seed. It will, if beat out, keep only one year. I had a row of fine 

 seed parsnips in my garden, many of the seeds of which fell in the 

 gathering. The ground was dug in the fall ; and, when I saw 

 it full of parsnips in the Spring, I only regarded this as a proof, 

 that parsnips might be sown in the fall, though I have since proved, 

 that it is a very bad practice. The ground was dug again, and 

 again for several successive years ; and there was always a crop 

 of parsnips, without a grain of seed ever having been sown on it. 

 But lest any one should take it into his head, that this is a most 

 delightful way of saving the trouble of sowing, I ought to state, 

 that the parsnips coming thus at random, gave me a great deal 

 more labour, than the same crop would have given me in the 

 regular way of sowing. Besides, the fall is not the time to sow, 

 as my big and white parsnips, now selling in New York market, 

 may clearly show ; seeing that they were sown in June I And 

 yet, people are flocking to the Western Countries in search of rich 

 land, while thousands of acres of such land as I occupy are lying 

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