PREPARATION OF SEED. 471 



for the sake of suitable weather is always good policy 

 At the same time, in this, as in all other of our field opera- 

 tions, we should never throw away a chance, by neglect- 

 ing to take advantage of even a single day of weather 

 suitable for our work. A farmer early with his field work 

 has always a labour balance in hand, whereas with a late 

 or dilatory farmer it is always against him. 



At the same time that arrangements are being made 

 for getting the land in order for the reception of the 

 seed, some little preparation of that is required before it 

 should be placed in the soil. The seed of the carrot differs 

 from all our other farm seeds in being covered with stout 

 short hairs, which are attached to the outer surface or skin 

 of the seed, and prevent it to a great extent from coming 

 in direct contact with the substances of the soil in which 

 it may be placed. In the course of time the hairy attach- 

 ments absorb moisture, and convey it to the inner part of 

 the seed, which then sets up the germinative process, and 

 the growth commences; but as this necessarily depends 

 upon the conditions under which each seed is placed in the 

 soil, the germination is very irregular, and in some cases 

 does not take place at all. There is also a great difficult} 7 ' 

 in separating the seeds, which being very depressed, nearly 

 flat indeed in shape, are held together by their hairy enve- 

 lopes, and thus an equal distribution in the drill is rendered 

 well-nigh impossible. 



To overcome these two obstacles, it is customary to mix 

 the seed required, which is usually from 2 Ibs. to 4 Ibs. to 

 the acre, with moistened sand, in the proportion of two 

 bushels to each acre to be sown. This should be done 

 with proper care, so that the quantity of seed per acre 

 should be equally distributed through the mass, which can 

 readily be secured by adding the sand in small quantities 

 at first to the seed, and mixing them together intimately 

 with the hand, taking care that no lumps of seed remain 



