14. PACKING THE SOIL ABOUT PLANTED 

 SEEDS. 



Illustrative material: Place an inch or more of damp garden 

 soil in each of two pint fruit jars, and put twenty navy beans on 

 the soil in each jar. Cover them to the depth of about two 

 inches with the soil, packing it down firmly in one jar, and 

 leaving it as loose as possible in the other. Screw the caps on 

 loosely on both jars, and place them in a warm place. 



Packing Loam About Seeds. If we plant a few live 

 navy beans in damp (not wet) garden soil in each of two 

 jars, and then pack the soil down closely around the beans 

 in one of the jars, leaving it as loose as possible in the 

 other, and set both jars in a warm room for two days, we 

 shall generally find that a larger number of the beans have 

 germinated in the jar in which the soil was packed than 

 in the other jar. 



Absorb Water Faster. When we press the soil closely 

 about seeds, the seeds absorb water and swell faster than 

 if we leave them loose. The seeds can not germinate until 

 they have taken up all the water they can hold. Since 

 packing the soil about them enables them to absorb water 

 faster, it also enables them to germinate sooner, if the soil 

 is not too wet. 



Field Illustration.. Figure 30 shows a picture of a 

 part of a recently planted grain field. This field was 

 sown by hand, and then harrowed to cover the seed. 

 Wherever the man that drove the team stepped, the grain 



63 



