82 THE AMERICAN GARDENEH. [Chap. 



the uncertainty of their winter, which passes, some- 

 times with hardly any frost at all ; and which at 

 other times, is severe enough to freeze the Thames 

 over. It is sometimes mild till February and then 

 severe. Sometimes it begins with severity arid 

 ends with mildness. So that, nine times out of ten, 

 their seed would come up and the plants would be 

 destroyed before spring. Besides, they have slugs 

 that come out in mild weather, and eat small plants 

 up in the winter. Other insects and reptiles do the 

 like. From these obstacles the American gardener 

 is free. His winter sets in ; and the earth is safely 

 closed up against vegetation till the spring. I am 

 speaking of the North of Virginia, to be sure ; but 

 the gardener to the South will adapt the observa- 

 tions to his climate, as far as they relate to it. 



160. As to the act of sowing, the distances and 

 depths differ with different plants, and these will, of 

 bourse, be pointed out under the names of those 

 different plants ; but, one thing is common to all 

 seeds ; and that is, that they should be sown in 

 rows or drills ; for, unless they be sown in this 

 way, all is uncertainty. The distribution of the 

 seed is unequal ; the covering is of unequal depth ; 

 and, when the plants come up in company with the 

 weeds, the difficulty of ridding the ground of the 

 latter, without destroying the former, is very great 

 indeed, and attended with ten times the labour. 

 Plants, in their earliest state, generally require to 

 be thinned; which cannot be done with regularity, 

 unless t'hey stand in rows ; and, as to every future 

 operation, how easy is the labour in the one case 

 and how hard in the other ! It is of great advantage 

 to almost all plants to move the ground somewhat 

 deep while they are growing ; but, how is this to 

 be dor.e, unless they stand in rows ? If they be dis- 



