ROLLING. 47 



knowledge of the vast importance of firming the soil over the seed. 

 This is particularly the case with buckwheat, turnips and other crops 

 that are sown from the month of July until September, as at such 

 seasons we very often have long-continued droughts, and the soil is 

 like a hot ash heap, and to expect germination from small seeds when 

 sown in such soils, without being firmed against the entrance of the 

 hot air, is just about as useless as if we threw them in the fire. 



(Mr. H.) I consider this subject of so great importance, that I think 

 we should take the liberty to again print here the article which I 

 read before the National Association of Nurserymen held at Cleveland, 

 O., in June of 1879, entitled "The Use of the Feet in Sowing and 

 Planting." I have written a great deal on horticultural subjects in 

 the last twenty years, but I think (and I say this advisedly) 

 that the value of this article to the horticultural and agricultural 

 community is more than the whole I have ever written, put 

 together, and I have great satisfaction in knowing that thousands 

 of men have thanked me for impressing so strongly the necessity 

 for this work. This article has been reprinted in thousands 

 of newspapers in the past four years, but if it, or some other 

 similar advice on the necessity of firming the soil after sowing, was 

 ever placed before the eyes of the farming community and acted upon, 

 thousands would be saved from mourning the loss of wasted seed, 

 manure and labor; for in a country vast as ours, a new crop of inex- 

 perienced men are annually engaging in farming and gardening. 

 In no European work on farming or gardening that I have ever seen, 

 has the importance of what we have so strongly argued for been 

 referred to, probably for the reason that in the cooler and more humid 

 atmosphere of most European countries the necessity is not so great. 



THE USE OF THE FEET IN SOWING AND PLANTING. 



[Read before the National Association of Nurserymen held at Cleveland, 0., in June, 1879.] 



It may be useless to throw out any suggestions in relation to horti- 

 cultural operations to such a body of practical men as is now before 

 me. Yet I candidly admit that, although I have been extensively 

 engaged in gardening operations for over a quarter of a century, I did 

 not fully realize, until a few years ago, the full importance of how 

 indispensable it was to use the feet in the operations of sowing and 

 planting. 



For some years past I have, in writing on gardening matters, 

 insisted upon the great importance of "firming" the soil over the 



