VOU. \VI. so. *5. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



355 



permitterl to exert their iiifliioiicp, the contents of 

 the seed swell by degrees, anil the first |ioint of 

 the future root having funned, breaks thrnngh the 

 shell in a downward dirpciion, and ahont the same 

 time the first point of the future stem conies forth 

 in an upward direction. The presence of air, 

 heat and moisture are as indispensable to the growh 

 of the plant, as they are to the germination of the 

 seed. 



Now it often happens, that when seeds are plant- 

 ed in fresh stirred groi;nd, or when the soil is 

 )noist, they undergo the incipient process of fer- 

 mentation, and the earlh not being pressed u|)on 

 'ihein, and dry weather ensuing, the moisture is 

 abstracted, and the seeds perish. 'J'oo much moist- 

 ure 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 planling, therefore, should he 

 to place the seed just so far 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 jireviously steeped, or the soil well 

 pulverized and pressed upon them, fail to grow for 

 want of moisture. Hence, in sowing orchard 

 grass, it is found prudent to spread it upon a floor 

 and sprinkle it with water, before it is sown, and 

 to pass a roller over the ground after the seed is 

 sown. And hence, in light garden mould, it is 

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

 upon all light seeds after they are sown. 



But we would draw the attention of the farmer, 

 as well as of the gardner, to another mode of pre- 

 venting failure and disappointment in the growth 

 of certain seeds — and that is, by sprouting them 

 before they are planted. This may he convenient- 

 ly done with Indian corn, pumpkins, mangold 

 wurtzel, beets, &c. on the farm, and with melons, 

 cucumbers, beans, peppers, and a great number 

 of other seeds which are assigned to the garden. 

 The mode of doing it w ith the field seeds we have 

 named is this; steep the seed twelve or twenty 

 hours in water of a tepUl or warm temperature — 

 then take ofl^ the water, and leave them in a warm 

 place, covered to exclude the light and prevent 

 their drying, or in a dark cellar or room, and the 

 radicles or roots will shoot in a few days, and may 

 then be planted without injury. I'eing obliged to 

 suspend onr planting for four days, on account of 

 rain, we found our seed, which had been previ- 

 ously steeped, and set by in a dark room, with rad- 

 icles two or three inches long. It was planted 

 with but little inconvenience, and diil remarkably 

 well. Mr J. Nott sprouted a part of his corn last 

 year, while a part of the seed was not sprouted — 

 1 and what is worthy the particular notice of the 

 farmer, he assures us that the sprouted corn was not 

 injured by the wire worm, ichile the unsteeped seed 

 was seriously injured^ although planted by the side 

 of each other. iMr Nott accounts for the diff'er- 

 ence in this way: The wire-worm attacks the chit 

 and feeds upon and destroys the germ ; but the 

 radicles having protruded, and not being to the 

 taste of the worm, the insect attacked the solid 

 part of the kernel, where its progress was too slow, 

 and too remote from the germ, to retard its growth. 

 Mr Nott also sprouted bis mangold wurtzel seed, 

 and planted it so late as the 27th June. Almost 

 every seed grew, and the crop might be called a 

 good one early in September. 



To sprout garden seeds, procure two sods, of 

 equal size, say eighteen inches square ; lay one 



down in the corner of the kitchen chimney, grass 

 down ; lay your seeds upon it, if small wrap them 

 in apiece of brown paper; then place the other 

 sod upon them, grass up — water well with warm 

 water, and the seeds will sprout in twcntyfour to 

 forlyeight hours. 



There is one manifest advantage in sprouting 

 seeds — it tests their goodness, and shows whether 

 they will or will not grow. A small quantity ol 

 seed corn. Submitted to this test before planting, 

 would in many instances prevent great loss to the 

 farmer. — Cultivator. 



MELONS. 



The countries in the world inost celebrated for 

 melons, are the plains of Bokkara, composed 

 ])rincipally of sand ; the Island of Cyprus, sim- 

 ilarly constituted, and the Delta of Egypt, com- 

 posed of the fine sands and sediment brought 

 down and deposited in a course of centuries by 

 the river Nile. Dr E. D. Clark, in his travels in 

 Egypt and Syria, gives an interesting account of 

 the tuelon cultivation on the Nile. The bed of 

 this long river contains abundance of sand-banks, 

 subject to changes and shifting, from the annual 

 floods by which they are formed. As the water 

 recedes after the floods, these banks are gradually 

 left dry ; and are immediately occupied by the 

 Eellahs, as melon beds. Pigeons' or (loves' dung, 

 which birds abound in Egypt, is mixed in proper 

 quantities with this sand, and the products are 

 astonishing. Dr Clark afiirms that when ripe, an 

 extensive bed of these melons perfumes the air to 

 a great distance ; and as the vessel in which he 

 sailed from Rosetta to .Acre, was freighted with 

 this fruit, the fragrance was almost overpowering. 



A gentleman, a few days since, assured us tljat 

 the finest melons he ever raised or tasted, were 

 grown on a bank of pure sand thrown from a well 

 at the depth of about twenty feet. M'anure was 

 mixed with the sand, and the seeds then planted. 

 Three of the melons weighed above 60 lbs., or 

 more than 20 lbs.; each. There is no plant that 

 seems more to delight in a sandy soil than the 

 melon. To arrive at perfection it requires great 

 heat, and this a sandy soil gives to a greater de- 

 gree than any other. Few good melons are raised 

 in the western part of this state ; might not the 

 quantity and the (juality be increaseii by planting 

 in maiuu-ed sand, as in the above described in- 

 stances ? We think it well worth a trial. — Gen. 

 Farmer. 



FEEDING BEES. 



Sometimes bees need feeding even as late as to 

 the first of May, when the weather is cold. By 

 liftiug a hive it may be judged by its weight wheth- 

 er it contains any honey of consequence ; if very 

 light, bore a bole into the side near the top, with a 

 small giridet, then run in a very small stick or 

 knitting needle ; in this manner you can learn 

 whether there is honey enough or not. Jf there 

 be very little or no lioney, the bees should be fed 

 until the weather becomes warmer. We once fed 

 two swarms of bees for several weeks, until the 

 first of May ; we then thought that they could 

 collect their food, as the flowers were in bloom, 

 and took no more care of them, but at the close 

 of a week's cold weather, most of the timestormp 

 we looked to them, and found that they bad star- 

 ved. But few persons consider how much bees 

 are affected by the weather and the state of vege- 

 tation. We have weighed hives of bees most 



every week during the warm season, and every 

 month in the cold season, and from these experi- 

 ments we have gained much valuable information 

 in managing them. We have had bees gain 12 

 lbs. per week to the hive in the first of April, and 

 the same hives lost ,5 or 6 lbs. in a week, about 

 the 20th of Mayj when the apjile trees were in 

 full bloom. In the first case the weather was 

 very warm and pleasant, and the willow and the 

 red flowering maple (in some places called soft or 

 white ma[)le) were in bloom. In .May the weath- 

 er was so cold that scarcely a bee left the hive. 

 We have known bees to eat up the honey and 

 starve in August, on accoimtof a severe drought, 

 there being but few flowers, and those having but 

 little honey. When it was very dry, a hive would 

 lose as much in a week in August as they would 

 in the same time in winter. — Ibid. 



A GOOD DISCOVERY. 



Some, six or seven weeks ago, when the water 

 of the Schuylkill was so yellow and turbid, and 

 all the conduits from Fairmount ran discolored 

 streams, the following discovery, which we find 

 in the London Morning Chronicle, would have 

 been a blessing, as it may always be henceforth. 

 A Mr James Richanls, of Dumbleton, writing to 

 the e<litor, observes : " 1 have discovered a cheap 

 filter to cleanse river water, which you will oblige 

 me to coninuinicate to tlie public, as it may be 

 useful to the inhabitants of London, Westminster, 

 and other districts where clean soft v\ater is pre- 

 ferred to dirty or hard water. It is nothing more 

 than a bag made of unbleached calico, in tlie 

 form of an inverted cone, attached to a small 

 wooden hoop, and in this country called a drop- 

 jiing bag. It is first saturated with water, after- 

 wards pulverized charcoal is thinly spread over 

 the inside of it with a dredging-box used by 

 cooks. At first, a part of the charcoal will pass 

 through the pores of the bag with the water, but 

 by continuing to fill it ftill with the same water, 

 and adding charcoal, in a few minutes it will be- 

 come as clear as spring Vvnter. 



To prevent the charcoal being washed from the 

 pores of the bag in lillirlg^ it, place another bag in. 

 side it, anil dredge a small quantity of pulverized 

 charcoal into it. The costof both bags is under 

 one shilling, and the two I send you will cleanse 

 frotn fifty to sixty gallons daily, if it be supplied 

 with water from a pipe and regulated by a stop- 

 cock, and more in proportion to the size of the 

 bag; but, as their cost is little, they can be in- 

 creased in]size and in number as may lie required. 

 I have used these filters the last month, and hope 

 the use of them may add to the comfort of others. 

 This plan, it will be seen, is extremely simple, 

 and within the means of every citizen. \Vhy 

 should it not be generally ado|)ted in Philadel- 

 phia .' — Philadtlphia Gazette. 



Wheat Crop We made inquiry of a number 



of our Farmers, who were in town at the Court, 

 concerning the appearances of the Wheat Crop, 

 all of whom without a single excejition, informed 

 us that the fields looked better than they have 

 done for several years at this season of the year. — 

 Chambersburg (^P^nn.') Repository. 



Lakge Pigs. — Saipuel Demond, Jr. of Rutland, 

 raised and fattened two pigs which were killed 

 March 19, aged eleven and a half months, and 

 weighed 359 and 335 lbs. Total, 694 lbs. 



