AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 253 



The season for sowing seed and planting trees and plants will soon be at 

 hand, and it is very important that we should take up this subject early in 

 the season, collect as many facts, draw out as many useful hints upon this 

 branch of science as possible. No good builder would commence laying 

 the foundation of a building without having a plan drawn of its shape, 

 size, and proportion, accompanied with an estimate of its cost, and what 

 is more important, the materials to be used properly selected. 



If it is important to the builder to select his materials before com- 

 mencing his building, it certainly is of the greatest importance to the 

 farmer and gardener to have the materials selected with care for the 

 structure he is about to build in the form of trees and plants. 



A large majority of cultivators wait until the season arrives for planting 

 before they even enquire where the seed and plants which they want can be 

 obtained. Then often the particular varieties which are wanted most can 

 not be had in their immediate vicinity ; if they send to a distant part of 

 of the country to obtain them, they will, in nine cases out of ten, arrive 

 too late in the season to be of any use. 



Suppose you want a variety of vegetable seeds to sow in April or May ; 

 if obtained now, you can put a few into a flower-pot filled with good soil, 

 and place it in your hot bed or greenhouse ; if you have neither of these 

 at your command, the window of a warm room will answer. In a few 

 days you will have an opportunity of seeing what proportion of them are 

 good, and by making a note of the quantity sown, and what per cent, of 

 them were made to grow, you will obtain a guide that will be of service 

 to yovi when you come to sow your main crop. 



Various plans have been given to the public by our agricultural and hor- 

 ticultural journals, by which we might tell good seeds from bad. Many of 

 the plans suggested are valuable ; but after several years' experience, we 

 have found no test so good as that of planting a small quantity a fcM' weeks 

 before the general planting time. 



The vitality of many kinds of seeds can be readily ascertained by put- 

 ting them into hot water ; the onion, for example, if good, will sprout in a 

 very few minutes, but you can not tell whether the onion will be red, 

 white, or yellow. 



We once had a little experience in the onion line ; and for the benefit 

 of others we will relate it. We wanted to sow an acre of fine newly 

 cleared land to onions ; we went to a seed store and bought a sufficient 

 quantity of red onion seed (so the package was labelled), tried the scald- 

 ing process, and found them good ; sowed them and they came up beauti- 

 fully ; but in a few weeks we were supprised that our acre of red onions 

 was nothing but leeks — a variety of onion that was of no more value to us 

 than so many Canada thistles. There is a slight difi'erence between the 

 common onion seed and the leek, but it would not be noticed by a person 

 unacquainted with the latter. 



With some varieties of shrub and tree seeds the process of testing their 

 vitality can not be done quite as readily as with vegetable secdsj as some 



