244 



Causes of Seeds not Germinating — Manures. 



Vol. IV. 



be levelled by cross harrowing. I once knew 

 a faithless servant of this sort, who got served 

 out in a very unexpected way while practis- 

 ing this sleiglit of hand : his employer had 

 witnessed what he had been doing from the 

 other side of the fence, and on liearing the 

 fellow exclaim as he passed one of these 

 baulks, " that's covered," sprang over, and 

 hitting him over the head with his stick, by 

 which his hat was knocked oif, picked it up, 

 and clapping it on him, exclaimed also, " and 

 that's covered 1" 



But a cause for this hurry in ploughing 

 might sometimes be traced to the weakness 

 of the horses, who, unless it be done by a 

 sudden exertion of their whole strength, are 

 not able to bear a protracted and steady 

 strain, competent to the task: in none of the 

 operations on a farm is it so necessary to have 

 sufficient team power as in ploughing ; with 

 a weak team, not even the best ploughman 

 can make good work, nor can land be stirred 

 to a sufficient depth to bring a crop to ma- 

 turity. It might not, perhaps, be too much 

 to say, many crops depend as much for sup- 

 port on the subsoil, as on the surface, espe- 

 cially in a time of drought; and it is quite 

 sufficient if an acre of land can, under ordinary 

 circumstances, be ploughed in a day's work 

 of eight hours ; and as that has been a task 

 which I calculate we have accomplished, we 

 will now quit. 



Causes of Seeds not Geritiiiiattng« 



We have known and heard of considerable 

 loss and disappointment from seeds, particu- 

 larly onion seeds, not growing. We have 

 thought and inquired in reference to the 

 cause, and the result of our cogitation and in- 

 quiries may be thus stated : 



Without a certain degree of moisture, seeds 

 ■will not germinate. On dry, sandy soils, and 

 in a dry season, it seems highly probable, 

 then, that seeds may be deprived of the re- 

 quisite degree of moisture: perhaps receiv- 

 ing just as much as will mould them and de- 

 stroy their vitality, or being so near the sur- 

 face as to be injured by the sun's heat and 

 light. 



But the seeds may have germinated, and 

 commenced to send out their roots and stem 

 stalks, and yet be destroyed. If the soil is 

 not pressed closely to the seeds, and very dry 

 weather occurs just at this period of the pro- 

 cess of germination, the root being too distant 

 from the soil, and too feeble to draw any sup- 

 ply of moisture, the liquid food of tlie plant 

 contained in the fermented seed may be dried 

 up, and the life thus destroyed. 



If you would avoid disappointment and 

 loss from seeds failing to grow, the preven- 

 tive process is indicated by a knowledge of 



the causes most frequently productive of this 

 result, which we think are those stated above. 

 If you sprout your seeds before putting them 

 into the ground, you will preserve them from 

 the first cause of failure, but if you pulverize 

 your soil thoroughly and press in this state 

 with a hoe, spade, or roller, upon the seeds 

 thus sprouted, the root stem will soon and 

 surely derive sufficient moisture from the soil. 



In a few instances I have found my neigh- 

 bours blaming the seeds as useless, particu- 

 larly of onions, carrots, and parsneps, when I 

 have obtained a little of the seed and found it 

 to sprout quite well. You may easily save 

 yourselves from such reflections, or from the 

 temptation to blame others, by steeping the 

 suspected seed in warm or tepid water, from 

 six to twenty-four hours, according to the size 

 and hardness of the seeds, and then setting it 

 away in a warmish place for a day or two. 

 If good it will sprout in this time ; if kept 

 warm in a darkish place, and it does not 

 sprout in this time, the seed is faulty. 



In connexion with this subject, I may state 

 that several circumstances incline me to the 

 belief that corn which has been sprouted — no 

 matter in what steep — is safe from the ra- 

 vages of the red or wire worm. It has been 

 fashionable to steep in strong solution of cop- 

 peras, and to ascribe the safety of the seed 

 in this state, not to the change which fermen- 

 tation has produced in the germ or chit which 

 is usually first attacked, but to the change in 

 the taste from the copperas. We have known 

 corn soaked in simple water — in water alone 

 — to escape fi-om the attacks of the worm as 

 well as that soaked in the copperas steep. 

 Until this matter is made more certain, how- 

 ever, I would hold it bad husbandry to neglect 

 the copperas, as, in addition to the change 

 proiluced by heat and moisture, we have also 

 the disagreeable taste communicated by the 

 salt. — Cultivator. 



Improvement of tlie Soil liy Animal and 

 Vtajctaljlc Manures. 



Tlie best way of applying the bone-dust 

 and horn-shavings and horn-piths, that we 

 have tried, is to keep them dry till a short 

 time before they are wanted — then to mix 

 them, in the proportion of a bushel to a load, 

 with unfermenled yard or stable dung, to cart 

 to the field, spread broadcast, and immedi- 

 ately cover the whole with the plough. The 

 action of the dung brings on a decomposition 

 of the animal matter, without previous pre- 

 paration, and its benefits are imparted to the 

 coming crop. Wc estimate fifteen loads of 

 manure, tlius charged witli bone or horn, 

 equal to twenty-five loads without it. •, 



Poudrctte is tiio contents of privies, dried, 

 and rendered as inodorous and inoflensive, by 



