SECT. V* bp PROfAGATiotfi 67 



In this case, if the soil is not heavy and wet, press the 

 surface with the rake head, spade, or otherwise. 

 Seeds sown in drills, or rows, are seldom pressed, 

 but they should be, especially if the soil be light ; 

 and even beans set by a dibble, are best to have the 

 earth pressed well about them \\ith it, or afterwards 

 with the rake head, and they Avill support themselves 

 more erectly ; for the least wind rocks them about 

 when in loose holes, and thus hurts the crop : In a 

 light soil, the best way is to lay them in a trench, 

 and trample in. 



Directions for thinning seedling crops, and prick- 

 ing them out in time, were given in the last section. 

 Let this business be done properly, and prick out 

 enow, that there may be some to spare ; perhaps a 

 neighbour may be obliged thereby, and at any rate* 

 it is best to have plenty lest accidents happen. 



Propagation by suckers is a mode of culture ra- 

 ther peculiar to trees and shrubs. The things to be 

 observed in this business are, to take them up with 

 some care from the mother plant, so as not to injure 

 its root, nor the sucker's own root, by pulling it up 

 without properly loosening it first. The earth should 

 be moved aside by a trowel, and then the sucker cut 

 by a knife, and not with a spade. Of those hardy 

 things that there are plenty of, the rough way 

 by a spade does not signify much, as to the sucker, 

 but it may injure the root, that it comes from. 

 Wherever a root appears barked, the part below 

 should be cut off. If it is desired to succeed well, in 

 propagating by suckers, consider that all young roots 

 are tender, let them be trimmed to form, (not too 

 much) and planted immediately, or at least let them 

 be covered with earth or laid by the heels, as it ia 

 Called. Suckers with poor roots, must have their 

 heads reduced the more. 



Propagation by slips is of two sorts ? either from 

 F a 



