THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



139 



lay it down as a safe rule, the finer the seed, ihe 

 finer should be the soil. 



" How does nature, exemplifying Supreme Wis- 

 dom, sow her most delicate seeds ? She scalier^ 

 them on the shady ground, trusting to the rain or 

 the frost to cover thein, (oi' course slightly,) and 

 they germinate belbre the sun has acquired power 

 enough to scorch them. The dust-like etieds o' 

 the orchis and cypripedium sometimes grow in 

 beds of damp moss. 



"Common garden loam, v\helher clayey or sandy, 

 is much improved by a dressing of vegetable earth 

 from the woods, well mixed t)efbre planting. Il 

 prepared in the preceding autumn, and pulverized 

 by the frost, all the better. 



"Such a soil is favorable to seeds of almost any 

 kind, but essential to the finer and more delicate 

 sorts. The preparation of the soil alone, however, 

 is not enough. Fine seeds may be smothered il 

 covered from more than one-eighth to haUan inch 

 deep ; and their short roots may be parched if ex- 

 posed to the sun except in the morning and evening. 

 To ajine soil, therefore, we must add the protec- 

 tion o\'shade, and in timeofdrought, a regular sup- 

 ply oC moisture. If the seeds are sown in an p;ien 

 border, a sprinkling ol water in the evenings is 

 best, but carelully abstain from applying so much 

 as will bake the ground." 



On preparing and sowing onion seed. 



W. Risley— (N. G. Farmer, vol. 2, pageSS,) 

 says : 



" First soak the seeds in water*from six to 

 twenty four hours — some seeds beins slower to ad- 

 mit moisture than others, is the difference in the 

 time required. Alter soaking, drain off the water, 

 and mix the seeds wiih a sufficient quantity oi 

 earth to absorb the moisture remaining on the 

 seeds ; 'stir them often that they may vegetate 

 evenly, and keep them in a moderate degree of 

 warmth and moisture until they are sprouted, when 

 they are ready to put into the ground. If the 

 weather should be unfavorable, put the seeds in a 

 cool place, which will check their trrowth. * * 



" It was lelt in that situation until the lime of 

 sowing. In April, as soon as the soil was suffi- 

 ciently dry, the ploughing wascommenced, and the 

 second day, at night, the sowing was finished, with 

 seed prepared as belbre slated. la one loeek ihe 

 onions icereup, rows were soon visible near twen- 

 ty rods, and no weeds yet appeared. The opera- 

 tion of stirring the soil with rakes and hoes wa- 

 then commenced, and the weeds were not suffered 

 to grow during the summer. (It is a mistaken no 

 tion that it is not time to hoe a garden until ii is 

 green with weeds.) The first ol September the 

 onions were harvested, and the product was over 

 two thousand bushels of fine onions from two and a 

 half acres." 



On soaking mangel wurtzel seed. 



3. Rapaljee says, (N. G. Farmer, vol. 1. p. 

 149,) " I prepared half an acre of land for man- 

 gel wurtzel, and obtained the seed from your 

 agent at Canandaigua. After soaking the seed 

 one day, I commenced sowing ; but rain came 

 on, and the soil being rather clayey, it was a whole 

 week before I could sow the remainder, 'i'he seed 

 was soaking all this time, and supposing it was 

 spoiled or injured, I sowed it thicker than usual, 

 and had not enough to finish the ground. Ac- 



cordingly I sent to the same place and got more 

 seed, and sowed the remainder without any soak- 

 ing ; so that part of my ground was sowed with 

 seed soaked one day, another part one week, and 

 a third part not all. 



"Now for the result :— The part soaked one 

 week, came up first, and much too thickly; — the 

 part soaked one drty, came up slowly and very 

 thinly ; while the part not soaked, did not come up 

 at all. Thus showing conclusively, the necessity 

 of thoroughly soaking these seeds, and the little 

 danger there is to be apprehended from soaking 

 toolong. I am confident that inattention to this 

 subject is the most frequent cause of the failure 

 of the mangel wurtzel and sugar beet seeds." 



VVilliarn Garbutt, (N. G. Far. vol. 1. 20,) says, 

 " much complaint is sometimes made of manofel 

 v/urtzel and suirar beet seed fiiiling to grow. 

 These seeds arc not quite as sure of vegetal ion as 

 some kinds ; still, if rightly prepared, and sown 

 when the ground is in good condition, belore the 

 weather becomes too dry, they will very seldom 

 fail. The seed should be soaked in sofc water, 

 sianding in a warm [Aace, for three or four days be- 

 lbre sowing. The shell of the seed is very hard, 

 and requires a long time soaking lor it to become 

 softened so that the germ can burst it open. I 

 have sometimes known it fail after being soaked, 

 owing to late sowing and dry weather." 



Planting too deeply. In vol. 1, p. 97, W. R. 

 Smith slates that he " planted half an acre of man- 

 gel wurtzel with two pounds of seed from the 

 Rochester seed store. In a few days some scatter- 

 ing plants made their appearance. * * * 

 Well, nearly two weeks after, I was surprised to 

 find a fair number of plants just peeping through, 

 and from their weak and thin appearance evidelit- 

 ly wearied with theirjourney to the surlace, which 

 they never could have reached if the soil had not 

 been light." 



Parsnip, carrot, celery and parsley seeds are 

 all slow to vegetate, and if sown late, and dry 

 weather succeeds, they will not olten come up. 

 These seeds should be sown early, in fine soil, 

 rolled or pressed down and kept moist. Mr. Geo. 

 SiicfTer ol Wheatland, raises large quantities of 

 carrots for feeding. He soaks the seed 48 hours, 

 then rolls it in plaster, and when sown covers it; 

 from one half to three quarters of an inch deep. — 

 (N. G. Far. vol. 2. p. 181.) 



Cucumber, melon and squash seeds, seldom lose 

 their vitality by age or otherwise, but when sown 

 they often fail to grow, owing to the ground being 

 cold or wet. These, and some other seeds, will 

 invariably rot if sown too early— before the 

 ground is sufficiently warm. Lima bean and sweet 

 corn olten (iiii from the same causes. 



Egg plant seed will not vegetate in the open 

 ground— it requires a good hot-bed. 



Locust seed must be thoroughly scalded, by 

 pouring boiling hot water and letting it soak 24 

 hours. 



SUCCESSFUL CULTURE OF SILK IN 1841. 



Extract from a letter from Robert Sinclair, sen., 



near Baltimore. 

 To the Editor of ibe Farmers' Register. 



* * * I succeeded admirably in raising silk 

 the last season. I sold for cash to the amount of 



