524 AGRICULTURE. 



threshed out. If, when threshed, any moisture remains about 

 them, they should be placed in the sun, or near a fire in a dry 

 room ; and, when quite dry, they should be put into bags and 

 hung up in a very dry room, against a dry wall or dry boards, 

 where they will not accidentally get damp. The best place is 

 some room where there is, occasionally at least, a fire kept in 

 winter. 



Sowing. The first thing relating to sowing is the prepara- 

 tion of the ground. It may be more of less fine, according to 

 the sort of seed to be sown. Peas and beans do not, of course, 

 require the earth as fine as small seed do ; but still, the finer 

 the better for everything, for it is better if the seed be actually 

 pressed by the earth in every part. Many seeds, if not all, are 

 best situated when the earth is trodden down upon them. 



Transplanting. The best weather for transplanting, whether 

 of table vegetables or of trees, is the same as that for sowing. 

 If you do this work in wet weather, or when the ground is wet, 

 the work cannot be well done. It is no matter what the plant 

 is, whether it be a cucumber plant or an oak tree. It has been 

 observed, as to seeds, that they like the earth to touch them in 

 every part, and to lie close about them. It is the same with 

 roots. If possible, therefore, transplant when the ground is 

 not wet. But here again, as in the case of sowing, let it be 

 dug or deeply moved, and well broken, immediately before you 

 transplant into it. If you transplant in hot weather, the leaves 

 of the plant will be scorched, but the hearts will live ; and the 

 heat, assisting the fermentation, will produce new roots in twenty- 

 four hours, and new leaves in a few days. Then it is that you 

 see fine vegetation come on. 



Cultivation. If the subject be from seed, the first thing to 

 see to is, that the plants stand at proper distances from one 

 another. Carrots, parsnips, and lettuce ought to be thinned out 

 in seed-leaf. Hoe or weed immediately. Weeds ought never 

 to be suffered to reach any size, either in field or garden, and 

 especially in the latter. But, besides the act of killing weeds, 

 cultivation means removing the earth between the plants, while 

 growing. This assists them in their growth ; it feeds them ; 

 it raises food for their roots to live upon. A mere flat hoeing 

 does nothing but keep down the weeds. The hoeing, when the 



