I'UBUSllKl) BY 



ENGLAND FARMER. 



WILLIAM NICHdlS. lUKiKliS- "niil LlHNCiS, CONGRESS STREKT, (FOURTH UOOR FROM STATE STREET.) 



If. 



BOSTON. SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1824. 



No. .34. 



REMARKS ON VEGETATION, ice. 



[Centinued from page 256.] 

 TO DETERMINE THE GOODNESS OF SEEDS. Tie 



isjhing of a s:iven measure of seeds may gci- 

 \Uy be esteemed a criterion ; as it is knoHii 

 it when seeds are put into cold water ihox 

 lich are less perfect are liable to swim anJ 

 ; sound ones to sink.* It is a proper criteii- 



of good seed wheat to cast it into salt aid 

 iter, just strong- enough to float an egg ; is 

 5 more salt there is dissolved in water tie 

 avier it becomes; and thence none but qnie 

 iind grains of wheat will sink in this brin>, 

 i that which swims is properly rejected. 

 The weight of a given measure of grain will 

 o, with considerable certainty discover th« 

 entity of husk or bran contained in it, com 



ed to the quantity of flour ; as that grain 



ered with raisins, both looked well and grew 

 readily, whereas many others would not vege- 

 tate 



There are some seeds, as those of carrots, 

 that are so difficult to be sown in uniform (|uali- 

 ties, that it has been customary to mix them 



Since the powder of fresh burnt cliarcoalis previously with sand or garden mould, for the 

 known powerfully to absorb all putrid vapors ; | purpose of giving them weight, or bulk, or to 

 it is probable that seeds mixed and covered with ' detach them from each other. And some even 



charcoal dust, which has recently been burnt, "" " '' '-—'" ' ' — •'- '' '" 



or not long exposed to the air, might be success- 

 fully employed for the preservation of seeds 

 either in long voyages, or in domestic grana- 



VVhen seeds brought originally from other 

 climates are to be sown, attention is requir- 

 ed to the circumstance of season and of soil. — 

 Those which will ripen their seeds the same 

 year are to be sowed early in the spring, and 

 covered lightly with earth, and should be buri- 

 ed beneath the soil, soon after it has been 

 ploughed or dug, as its interstices are then re- 

 ich is cut too early or is not quite ripe, or p]gtg ,yith atmospheric air; which may be ne- 

 ipens in wet seasons, shrinks in the barn or pessary to stimulate the root. Those seeds, how- 

 nary, and becomes wrinkled, and has thus a g^^p^ which will not perfect their vegetation in 

 ater proportion of skin or bran than that (|,g same year must be sown in early autumn ; 



ind though all seeds vegetate better, when 



ch has been perfectly ripened, and will 

 ce weigh lighter in proportion, 

 ^here is reason to believe that a progressive 

 rovement of many seeds exists during the 

 mer days of winter in our granaries, which 

 lably consists in the process of the conver- 

 of mucilage into starch ; in the same man- 

 ias the harsh juices of crab-apples and of 

 ire pears, are continually changing into su- 

 uring the winter; both which processes 

 robably in part chemical like the slow, 

 lerpetual change of sugar into vinous spirit. 

 i)is improvement of wheat, and of barley, 

 )f oats is well known to the baker and t'le 

 er, and the horse dealer ; as bitter hread 

 de from old wheat, and barley is better 

 erted into malt in the vernal months ; and 

 |is are believed to thrive better, and to pos- 

 ore vigor, when they are fed with old 

 ith new oats, 

 ns. B. G. Sage gives the following process 

 ;over whether wheat has been injured by 

 ntation or the nutritive matter otherwise 

 yed. Make a paste with flour and water. 

 ?ashit with your hands under water, which 

 be frequently changed, till it no longer 

 les discolored. The substance remaining 

 id is the gluten; if the corn be good this 

 lltic, and will contract when drawn out; if 

 n has begun to heat it will be brittle ; 

 corn has fermented, none of the gluten 

 obtained. 



:re seeds of a perishable nature are to be 

 1 to or brought from distant countries, 

 ig them with sugar is the most cer- 

 d salutary method of preserving them. — 

 eyd, of Belmont, in Staffordshire, Eng- 

 living observed some seeds, which came 

 itally among raisins, to grow readily, di- 

 Diauy seeds to be sent from the West In- 

 ivered with raisins, and others in sugai 

 nd that those immersed in sugar or cov 



M, 



il.f 



oore particular directions relative to trying the 

 . of seed by this method see N. E. farmer, 

 !293. 



placed but a little beneath the surface of the 

 ^oil. as one inch, because they then have a bet- 

 ter supply of atmospheric air which may be 

 lecessary for their first growth, before they 

 have acquired leaves above ground ; yet as ma- 

 ny foreign seeds may not be sufficiently hardy 

 U bear oui inclement winters, it may be neces- 

 s.ry, as some believe, to bury them an inch and 

 a half or two inches deep in the soil, to pre- 

 vent the frosts from doing them injury. And 

 ;l-e drill method, or sowing seeds in rows is the 

 mo'=t convenient mode of sowing them at a de- 

 termined depth, and also for the purpose of 

 keeping the young plants clear from weeds by 

 the more easy application of the hoe. 



In gardens near large towns where the land 

 is valuable and highly manured, gardeners some- 

 times sow two or three kinds of seeds on the 

 same ground, for the purpose of economy. — 

 Thus, Mr. Marshall observes that, on the same 

 ground they sow radishes, lettuces and carrots ; 

 the radishes are drawn young for the table, the 

 lettuces to plant out, and a sufficient crop of car- 

 rots is left ; for carrots, if you wish them to be 

 large should not grow very near to each other, 

 in defence of this mode of culture, it is said, 

 if one crop fails, the others may do well, and 

 there is no loss of ground or time ; and if all 

 succeed they do very well. Radishes and spin- 

 ach are commonly sown together by the com- 

 mon gardeners, and many manoeuvres of inter- 

 cropping are made by them, in the sowing and 

 planting between rows of vegetables that are 

 wide asunder, or presently to come off, or in 

 the alleys of things cultivated on beds. 



Thus if a piece of horse radish be newly 

 planted it may be top cropped with radishes or 

 spinach, Lc. or if a piece of potatoes be plant- 

 ed wide, a bean may be put between each set, 

 in every or every other row ; a thin crop of 

 onions upon new asparagus beds is a common 

 practice, drawing them young from about the 

 plants. — Introduction to Gardening — Rivington. 

 See likewise J\'ew England Farmer, vol. i. p. 

 351, and vol. ii. p. 185. 



sufier them to begin to put forth their roots in 

 such a mixture of moisl sand or garden mould 

 for the purpose of more regularly dispersing 

 them. 



In dry seasons, the soaking of seeds in water 

 a day or two bel'ore committing them to the 

 ground, will forward their growth, as well as 

 by artificially watering the ground before or af- 

 ter sowing them ; and the soaking of them in 

 salt and water may have another advantage ol 

 giving an opportunity of rejecting the light 

 seeds, which float, and perhaps of destroying 

 some insects which may adhere to them ; the 

 sprinkling some kinds of seed with lime may 

 also be of advantage for the purpose of destroy- 

 ing insects. 



air. Chapel, according to the papers of the 

 Bath Agricultural Society found great benefit 

 in steeping barley in the black liquor which 

 oozes from manure heaps for twenty four hours, 

 and skimming otT the light grains. On taking 

 it out of the water he Mixed wood ashes sifted 

 with the grain to make it spread regularly. But 

 the best agriculturists are of opinion that if 

 o-round is well prepared to receive the seed, is 

 well manured and tolerably moist, steeps of any 

 kind will generally prove injurious, by weaken- 

 ing the vegetative" principle. The quantity of 

 manure, or food for plants which is added to 

 the seeds by steeping them in fertilizing mix- 

 tures must be trifling. But when seed is sown 

 late, the soil dry, and injury is apprehended 

 from insects' preying on the germ before or 

 soon after it sprouts, steeping in some bitter or 

 saline mixtures may be of service. 



N. B. The foregoing observations are naostly 

 extracted and abridged from the works of Dr. 

 Darwin and other authors, whose authority is 

 generally considered as paramount in relation 

 to the subjects of which they treat. 



ON GRAFTING FRUIT TREES, &c. 

 [Concluded from page 258.] 

 " Mr. William Fairman, of Kent County, 

 England, has inserted in the 20th vol. of the 

 Trans. Soc. Arts, London, an account of his 

 mode of " extreme branch grafting,'''' upon old 

 decaying trees, which promises to be a very 

 great acquisition to those who take pleasure in 

 cultivating fruit. The process is as follows : 



"Cut away all spray wood, and make the 

 free a perfect skeleton, leaving all the healthy 

 limbs ; then clean the branches, and cut the top 

 nf each off, where it would measure in circum- 

 ference from the size of a shilling to about that 

 of a crown piece. Some of the branches must 

 of course be taken off where they are little 

 larger, and some smaller, to preserve the cano- 

 py'^orhead of the tree ; and it will be neces- 

 sary to take out the branches which cross oth- 

 ers, and observe the arms are left to fork off, 

 so that no considerable opeaing is to be per- 



