138 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



leaves (oh marled land) wiih benefits which, 

 though of course less in degree, were as disiiriCily 

 marked as 1 have ever seen from ilie application 

 of rotted stable or farm-pen manure. Numerous 

 authorities might be quoted in support oi usiirig 

 manure as a top-dressing, having undergone little 

 or no fermentation, both Irorn English and Ame- 

 rican writers. A frequent and valuable contributor 

 to the Kegister, J. JM. Garnett, esq., is one whose 

 opinion must be (iimiliar to every reader of your 

 valuable periodical. A. Nicol. 



AN ACT CONCERNING THK BOARD OF AGRI- 

 CULTURE. 



jPassed February 2d, 1842. 



Be it enacted by the General uissenibly, That 

 the members of the Board of Agriculture, author- 

 ized by an act entitled "An Act to establish a 

 Board of Agriculture," passed March ihe twen- 

 tieth, eighteen hundred and Ibrty-one, be, and 

 they are hereby, allowed the sum of three dollars 

 per day each, lor the time ihey have been, or may 

 be, in actual session, and all reasonable expenses 

 incurred by ihem, in travelling to, and returning 

 from, their place of meeting. 



All charges incurred by the corresponding se- 

 cretary, postage paid by ihe members ol' the 

 board, in discharging the duties in)puscd upon 

 them, by the act aloresaid, together wiih the sta- 

 tionary used by the board, shall be allowed, and 

 when admitted by the Governor, shall by him be 

 caused to be paid by warrants on the Treasury. 



This act shall be in Ibrce Irom the passing 

 thereol^ 



[The foregoing act would have been published 

 in the preceding number, but lor the disappoint- 

 ment of two efforts, made by letter to difierent 

 members of the legislature, to procure a copy. 



Owing to the like want of authentic inlormation, 

 and relying upon the scant and incorrect notices in 

 newspapers, we were somewhat misled, both as to 

 the features and the progress of the bill, when our 

 remarks thereupon were inserted in the January 

 number. The errors, however, were unimportant, 

 as the act now, such as it is, ia completed, and 

 epeaks for itsslf. — Ed. F. R.] 



KEBIARKS ON SEEDS AND SEEDSMEN — SOW- 

 ING SEEDS, CAUSES OF FAILURE, &C. 



From llie New Genesee Farmer. 

 The production of living plants from small 

 grains of seed dropped in the earth is one of the 

 most wonderful and beautiful operations ol nature. 

 "When examined by the ^ght of science, it is 

 found to be effected by the combined agency of 

 earth, air, moisture and heat ; and to ensure suc- 

 cess it is necessary that these (bur elements be 

 combined in due but different proportions, accord- 

 ing to the nature and habits of the different kinds 

 of seeds. Hence arises the difiiculty of causing 

 some kinds to vegetate; and the unc^tainty 



which gardeners generally lieel respecting many of 

 their crops until they see the young plants appear. 

 Hence, also, arise moijl of the complaints which 

 are made to seedsmen, and the censures which are 

 unjustly cust upon them by inexperienced culti- 

 vators. 



In order to explain this subject, and with a view 

 to lessen the evil, the proprietor ol the ilochesier 

 seed store has added the testimony ol several 

 highly respectable and successlul cultivators in 

 the country, and some accounts of their methods 

 of preparing and sowing several of the most im- 

 portant kinds of seeds that are liable to lail with 

 careless management. 



The editor of the Albany Cultivator, speaking 

 on this general subject, says : — 



*' Seeds often liiil to grow ; and the seedsman 

 is often faulted, lor vending bad seeds, when the 

 cause of their not growing is owing to the gar- 

 dener or planter. To induce ger.^iiuation, moisture, 

 atmospheric air, and a certain temperature, are in- 

 dispensable ; and it is also requisite that light be 

 excluded from the seed, until the nutriment of the 

 seed is exhausted, or until the rout can draw nou- 

 rishment from the soil. The first effect of the air, 

 heat and moisture upon the seed is to change its 

 properties — to convert its starch into sugar — into 

 a sort ot milky pulp, the proper food of the embryo 

 plant. If at this stage, the seed becomes dry, its 

 vitality is believed to be destroyed ; but if these 

 agents are permitted to use their influence, the 

 contents of the seed swell by degrees, and the first 

 point of Ihe future root having Ibrmed, breaks 

 through the shell in a downward direction, and 

 about the same time the first point ol the future 

 stem comes Ibnh in an upward direction. Air, 

 h'eat, and moisture are as indispensable to the 

 growth of the plant, as they are to the germination 

 of the seed. 



" Now it often happens, that when seeds are 

 planted in Iresh siiried ground, or when the soil is 

 moist, they undergo the incipient progress of fer- 

 mentation, and the earth not being pressed upon 

 them, and dry weather ensuing, ihe moisture is ab- 

 stracted, and the seeds perish. Too much mois- 

 ture is also often destructive to the vital principle 

 of seeds — and others again are buried too deep to 

 be vivified by solar and atmospheric influence. — 

 The first object in planting, therelbre, should be to 

 place the seed just so lar under the surface, and so 

 to cover it with earth, as shall barely secure to it 

 a constant supply of moisture. There are many 

 seeds, as of the carrot, parsnip, orchard grass, &c., 

 which if not previously sieeped, or the soil well 

 pulverized and pressed upon them, fail to grow tor 

 want of moisture. Hence, in sowing orchard grass, 

 it is Ibund prudent to spread it upon a floor and 

 sprinkle it with water, belbre it is sown, and to 

 pass a roller over the ground after the seed is 

 sown ; and hence, in lig|ft garden mould, it is ad- 

 visable to press, with the hoe or spade, the earth 

 upon all light seeds after they are sown." 



On sowing flower seeds. 



David Thomas, an experienced and very suc- 

 cessful florist, remarks : — (N. G. Farmer, vol. 1, 

 p. 56.) 



" For large seeds, like the bean or the pea, a 

 coarse soil is well adapted, as they can force their 

 way to the surface from any moderate depth : but 

 amall seeds require different treatment ; and wo 



