No. 8. Short Directions for Planting Garden Vegetables. 



245 



obtained, if indeed an additional quantity be 

 thus obtained, which is not as yet fully cer- 

 tain. 



APHORISM iir. 



Thick milk always throws up a smaller proportion of 

 the cream it ac'liially contains to the siirlace, than 

 milk that is thinner, but that cream is of a richer 

 quality ; and if water he adileil to that thick milk it 

 willalforil a considerably greater quantity of cream 

 than it would have done if allowed to remain pure ; 

 but its quality is at the same time greatly debased. 



This is a fact that every person attentive 

 to a dairy must have remarked ; but I have 

 never heard of any experiment that could 

 ascertain either tlie precise amount of the in- 

 creased quantity of cream that might thus be 

 obtained, or of the ratio in the decrease of 

 its quality; but it ascertains the effects at 

 least of mixing water with the milk in a 

 dairy; and the knowledge of this fact will 

 enable attentive persons to follow that prac- 

 tice which they think will best promote their 

 own interest. 



APHORISM IV. 

 Milk which is put into ahucket or other proper vessel 

 and carried in it to any considerable distance, so as to 

 be much agitated and in part cooled before it he put 

 into the milk-pans to settle for cream, never throws 

 up so much nor so rich cream, as if the same milk had 

 been put into the milk-pans directly after it was 

 milked. 



In this case it is believed the loss of cream 

 will be nearly in proportion to the time that 

 has elapsed, and the agitation it has sustained 

 after being drawn from the cow. But I am 

 not as yet in possession of any experiments 

 that sufficiently ascertain how much is to be 

 ascribed to the time, and the agitation, taken 

 separately. On every branch of agriculture 

 we find experiments wanting at each step we 

 advance in our enquiries. The labors of no 

 one man can complete the whole; but it is 

 the duty of every enquirer to point out as he 

 goes along where they are wanted. 



Short Directions for Planting Garden Ve- 

 getables* 



The first thing to be done in gardening is 

 to prepare the ground. It is necessary that a 

 garden soil be deep and loose, that the roots 

 of vegetables may penetrate it, spread and 

 imbit^ nourishment Depth of soil also pre- 

 vents drouth by its capability of containing 

 and consequently retaining a greater quantity 

 of moisture than a shallow soil, and it pre- 

 vents drowning by being capable of holding 

 more water without being flooded. 



Where not already done, manure should be 

 now drawn upon the ground intended for gar- 

 dening, to be intermixed with the soil by deep 

 and thorough ploughing. Where manure 

 fresh from the stable is brought, and cannot be 

 spread and ploughed under immediately, it 

 should be piled in a heap, and then covered 

 with soil three or four inches thick, and this 



with a coating of lime, in order to retain the 

 exhalations during fermenting, which other- 

 wise would pass into the air, and carry off a 

 large portion of the best quality of the ma- 

 nure. If earth cannot be had at this season, 

 in consequence of the ground being frozen, a 

 greater quantity of lime must be applied ; or 

 ashes may be first spread over, as a substitute 

 for earth. In addition to the lime thus pre- 

 venting the waste of manure, its usefulness 

 to the soil after it is spread upon it, will far 

 overbalance its cost. 



As a deep soil cannot always be had at once, 

 the defeci may be partially remedied by throw- 

 ing the soil into ridges upon which the crop 

 is to be planted. Of course in those ridges 

 there will be an accumulation of loose and 

 rich earth. But it is much better to have a 

 soil so deep and well manured as not to need 

 this expedient. 



Most garden crops are sown in drills or 

 small furrows drawn with a hoe or stick; and 

 where it is stated in directions that seeds arc 

 to be planted in drills of any described depth, 

 it is to be understood that they are actually 

 buried only about one half that depth, as the 

 earth is taken from the sides of !he drill for 

 covering. A convenient way of sowing some 

 garden crops in drills, is to lay a board across 

 the prepared bed, draw a stick to form the 

 drill along the edge of this board, drop the 

 seed and cover it, and then move the board 

 forward, placing it upon the planted drill, and 

 proceed with another as before. This forms 

 them straight, and by standing during the op- 

 eration upon the board, it presses the soil 

 firmly about the new planted seeds, and con- 

 sequently assists their vegetation. Another 

 and more rapid mode of forming drills is to 

 make a tool like a rake head, but much larger, 

 so that each tooth, when it is drawn through 

 the soil, may form a drill, at the required dis- 

 tance from the others. 



Rolling is advantageous wherever the 

 ground is not so wet or adhesive as to be 

 injured by the operation. It presses the fresh 

 earth about the seeds, and keeps them moist 

 until they germinate. When a roller is not 

 at hand a substitute may be obtained by laying 

 a plank or board upon the newly sown bed, 

 and then walking upon it lengthwise. No- 

 thing, perhaps, protects turneps, and other 

 plants which are injured by the turnep fly, 

 from its depredations, so much as rolling. — 

 By pressing down the soil and rendering the 

 surface smooth, it destroys their hiding places. 

 Such seeds sprout soon, and they are some- 

 times destroyed by insects even before they 

 reach the surface, in which case the seeds- 

 man is sometimes unjustly blamed. Seeds 

 sown in ground inclining to be dry, need 

 watering, especially if they are enveloped 

 in a dry shell. Among those which most 



