42 SEEDS AND SEED SOWING. 



but will require nineteen days if it is 57 degrees, and 

 radishes will vary from six to twelve days, according to 

 the temperature, so that no time is gained by sowing too 

 early in the season. When seeds are sown out-of-doors, 

 particular attention should be given so to prepare the soil 

 as that it may become sufficiently heated by the sun's rays 

 before the seed is sown. Attention to this point will fre- 

 quently make a difference of eight to twelve days in the 

 time of germination. 



In this latitude, the following seeds may be sown from 

 the middle of March to the end of April in the open air, 

 the mean of the thermometer in the shade being 45 degrees. 

 Beets, carrots, cress, celery, cabbage, cauliflower, endive, 

 kale, kohl-rabi, lettuce, parsley, parsnip, onions, leeks, 

 peas, radish, turnip and spinach; and the following from 

 the middle of May to the middle of June, the mean of the 

 thermometer being 60 degrees : lima, pole and bush 

 beans, sweet corn, cucumber, musk and water-melons, 

 okra, pumpkin, squash, tomato and nasturtium. 



Moisture is a point that also requires much attention. 

 If the soil is either too moist or too dry, the seeds will not 

 vegetate. In the first case they will rot, and in the other 

 case they will either shrivel up or remain dormant. It is 

 difficult to explain the proper medium that must be left to 

 experience and common sense ; but as a suggestion, we 

 would say that when a handful of the soil is tightly pressed 

 together in the hand, and just adheres together without 

 becoming pasty or sticky, it is in a proper state. 



Seeds will not vegetate if too much exposed to the air, 

 and yet they must not be wholly excluded from it, as the 

 oxygen it contains is necessary to produce those chemical 

 changes in the seed which result in germination. Seeds 

 should therefore always be rolled after being sown, or the 



