292 



Gardening of the Germans. 



Vol. VI. 



cates to their own ideas, undisturbed, amoncr 

 themselves. I submit, to those who have 

 kept pace with the subject in a practical and 

 scientific point of view, both in this country 

 nnd Europe, up to the present day, to say, 

 whetlier the anti-magnesian prejudice, in its 

 general application, is not amply furnished 

 with the elements of its own explosion. 



W. Pbnn Kinzeb. 



Springlewn Farm, Pequea, 

 March :21, 1842. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Gardening of the (^ermans. 



On a careful re-perusal of the past volumes 

 of the Cabinet — a retrospect to which I, too, 

 am addicted — one is struck with the variety 

 as well as the real practical information which 

 lies treasured up in that small space! At 

 any time and in a few minutes I can reap a 

 dollar's worth, and in putting it to interest 

 by transplantation, I am sure to reap a profit 

 of about 50 per cent, at the year's end ; — in- 

 deed the past volumes of the Cabinet are a 

 never-ending source of pleasure and profit, 

 and I know of no publication which contains 

 in so small and convenient a compass, so large 

 a fund of collected wisdom; tor within it, it 

 seems as though you could find about all you 

 seek after, from grave to gay, from playful to 

 severe. 



On my return, for the tenth time, to the 

 re-perusal of the first volume — I love to begin 

 at the beginning — I was again exceedingly 

 interested by the article at page 52 on the 

 " Gardening of the Germans ;" and it occurred 

 to me, that as many of the present subscribers 

 to the Cabinet do not possess that volume, I 

 might do them service by copying for re-in- 

 sertion a few of the very judicious remarks 

 of that very talented and indefatinfable ob- 

 server, the late Samuel Preston; while those 

 who have preserved the work from the com- 

 mencement will thank me for bringing the 

 subject again before them, and all may derive 

 much benefit from the repeated perusal of an 

 article which is so peculiarly interesting and 

 instructive, and from whence all may derive 

 matter for reflection — for comfort, or for re- 

 proof. T. W. 



" The Germans had come from a country 

 where necessity had obliged them to raise all 

 they could from a little land ; everything they 

 did, therefore, was done well and in the best 

 manner, tor they would not undertake more 

 than they could accomplish in due season. 

 They always washed their seed wheat in a 

 tub of water, carefully skimming off all that 

 would swim; and I have known them pick 

 out by hand the largest and best wheat heads 

 and sow it on new land well prepared, to 

 raise the best and cleanest seed, and then, 



after the wheat came off, put the stubble in 

 with turnips. They generally cleared a piece 

 of land every year for the purpose of raising 

 seed wheat, turnips, and good flax, Dutch 

 wheat commanding an extra price for super- 

 fine flour. For seed corn, it would be the 

 first they took out of the field, always select- 

 ing the largest and most forward ears from 

 stalks bearing three, leaving two or three 

 thicknesses of husks on them, and hanging 

 them up in some building until they shelled 

 it to plant, and then only take about one-third 

 of the ear out of the middle, and never plant 

 any, where the rows on the ears were crooked, 

 steeping the seed in a strong decoction of 

 hellebore roots, to prevent the ravages of birds 

 and squirrels. 



" After the oats were up six or eight inches 

 in height, they would roll them down flat, 

 saying, it kept them from lodging, and they 

 headed better; and they certainly raised far 

 better and heavier crops than farmers origi- 

 nally from any other parts of Europe.* As 

 to meadows, they were the people that first 

 introduced irrigation into Pennsylvania; if 

 they had a stream of water that could be led 

 over its bank, it was a primary object to do 

 it. They kept their meadows dressed smooth 

 and fine, and destroyed all bad weeds, so that 

 their hay was clean and sweet; and they 

 were famous for large barns to contain all 

 their produce, and to house all their stock of 

 creatures in bad weather — very careful of 

 their manure, and when snow is on the 

 ground carting the dung out of their stables 

 direct on their wheat, spreading it very even- 

 ly, saying, it prevented its heaving out with 

 the frost ; and then they also seeded the fields 

 for pasture. Living more on vegetables than 

 any other people, they made gardens accord- 



* It is the universal practice to roll oats in England, 

 either at the time of sowing or after the crop is up a 

 few inches in lleight, the former period being better if 

 the soil is dry and not adhesive: the rolling of barley 

 is always done at the time of sowing — but rolling at 

 some period or other is indispensable to the future well- 

 being of the crops. Indeed, tlie roller is in request at 

 almost all seasons of the year— in early spring on mea- 

 dows and clover, on spring crops and winter-sown 

 wheat ; and at midsummer, on turnips, &c. Few, who 

 are not acquainted with its operation, can estimate its 

 great utility. On meadows and pasture especially, it 

 is necessary, to the cleanliness of the crop and the de- 

 struction of the thistle and other pernicious weeds. It 

 is said, a person having occasion to manure a portion 

 of meadow land, it was observed that where the wheels 

 of the cart which bore the manure passed through a bed 

 of thistles, they were entirely di'slroyed. He therefore 

 rolled the field heavily and repeatedly with a cast-iron 

 roller during the summer, and ever since it has been 

 perfectly free from thistles. Fern, coltsfoot, and other 

 strong pernicious weeds, have been most completely 

 exterminated by the same means.— Ed. 



