AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



423 



SOW 



Particularly in the sowing of seeds, I con- 

 sider the matter of such vast importance, that 

 it cannot be too often or too strongly told ; for 

 the loss to the agricultural and horticultural 

 community, by the neglect of the simple 

 operation of firming the soil around the seed, 

 must amount to many millions annually. For 

 the mischief done is not confined only to the 

 less important garden operations, but even 

 Corn, Cotton, Wheat, Turnips, and other 

 important crops of the farm often fail, in hot 

 and dry soils, by being sown without being 

 firmed sufficiency to prevent the dry air 

 shriveling or drying the seeds. Of course, 

 the use of the feet is impracticable in firming 

 seeds on the farm, but a heavy roller, applied 

 after sowing, is an absolute necessity under 

 certain conditions of the soil, to insure per- 

 fect germination. From the middle of April 

 to nearly the end of May of this year, in many 

 sections of the country, there was little or no 

 rain. Such was particularly the case in the 

 vicinity of New York City, where we have 

 hundreds of market gardeners, who cultivate 

 thousands of acres of Cabbage, Cauliflower 

 and Celery, but the "dry spring" has played 

 sad havoc with their seed-beds. Celery is not 

 one-fourth of a crop, and Cabbage and Cauli- 

 flower hardly half, and this failure is due to 

 no other cause than that they persist in sow- 

 ing their seeds without ever taking the pre- 

 caution to firm the soil by rolling. 



We sow annually about four acres of Celery, 

 Cabbage, and Cauliflower plants, which pro- 

 duce probably five millions in number, and 

 which we never fail to sell mostly in our 

 immediate neighborhood, to the market gar- 

 deners, who have, many of them, even better 

 facilities than we have for raising these 

 plants, if they would only do as we do, firm 

 the seed after sowing, which is done thus : 



After plowing, harrowing, and leveling the 

 land smoothly, lines are drawn by the 

 " marker, " which makes a furrow, about two 

 inches deep and a foot apart ; after the man 

 who sows the seed follows another, who, with 

 the ball of the right foot, presses down his 

 full weight on every inch of soil in the drill 

 where the seed has been sown ; the rows are 

 then lightly leveled longitudinally with the 

 rake, a light roller is passed over them, and 

 the operation is done. 



By this method our crop has never once 

 failed, and what is true of Celery and Cabbage 

 seed is nearly true of all other seeds requiring 

 to be sown during the late spring or summer 

 months. 



On July 2d of 1874, as an experiment, I sow- 

 ed twelve rows of Sweet Corn and twelve rows 

 of Beets, treading in, after sowing, every 

 alternate row of each. In both cases, those 

 trod in came up in four days, while those un- 

 firmed remained twelve days before starting, 

 and would not then have germinated had not 

 rain fallen, for the soil was dry as dust when 

 the seed were sown. 



The result was, that the seeds that had been 

 trodden in grew freely from the start and 

 matured their crops to a marketable condition 

 by fall ; while the rows unfirmed did not 

 mature, as they were not only eight days later 

 in germinating, but the plants were also, to 

 to some extent, enfeebled by being partially 

 dried in the loose, dry soil. 



This experiment was a most useful one, for 



SOW 



it proved that a Corn crop, sown in the 

 vicinity of New York as late as July 2d, could 

 be made to produce " roasting ears " in Octo- 

 ber, when they never fail to sell freely at high 

 rates, but the crop would not mature unless 

 the seed germinated at once, and which would 

 never be certain at that dry and hot season, 

 unless by this method. 



The same season, in August, I treated seeds 

 of Turnip and Spinach in the same way. 

 Those trod in germinated at once and made 

 an excellent crop, while those unfirmed germi- 

 nated feebly, and were eventually nearly all 

 burned out by a continuance of dry, hot air 

 penetrating through the loose soil to the ten- 

 der rootlets. 



Of course, this rule of treading in or firming 

 seeds after sowing must not be blindly fol- 

 lowed. Very early in spring or late in fall, 

 when the soil is damp and there is no danger 

 from heated, dry air, there is no necessity for 

 doing so, or even at other seasons the soil 

 may be in a suitable condition to sow, and yet 

 be too damp to be trodden upon or rolled. 

 In such cases these operations may not be 

 necessary at all, for, if rainy weather ensue, 

 the seeds will germinate of course ; but if 

 there is any likelihood of continued drought, 

 the treading or rolling may be done a week or 

 so after sowing, if it is at such a season that 

 there is reason to believe the seed may suffer 

 from the dry, hot air. 



Another very important advantage gain- 

 ' ed by treading in the seeds is, that when we 

 have crops of Beets, Celery, Turnips, Spinach, 

 or anything else that is sown in rows, the 

 seeds to form the crop come up at once ; 

 while the seeds of the weeds, that are just as 

 liable to perish by the heat as are those of the 

 crop, are retarded. Such of the weed seeds 

 as lie in the space between the rows when the 

 soil is loose, will not germinate as quickly as 

 those of the crop sown; and hence we can cul- 

 tivate between the rows before the weeds ger- 

 minate at all. 



Now, if firming the soil around seed to pro- 

 tect it from the influence of a dry and hot 

 atmosphere is a necessity, it is obvious that 

 it is even more so in the case of plants whose 

 rootlets are even more sensitive to such in- 

 fluence than the dormant seed. 



Experienced professional horticulturists, 

 however, are less likely to neglect this than 

 to neglect in the case of seeds, for the dam- 

 age from such neglect is easier to be seen, and 

 hence better understood by the practical 

 nurseryman ; but with the inexperienced 

 amateur the case is different. When he re- 

 ceives his package of trees or plants from the 

 nurseryman, he handles them as if they were 

 glass ; every broken twig or root calls forth a 

 complaint, and he proceeds to plant them, 

 gingerly straightening out each root and sift- 

 ing the soil around them, but he would no 

 more stamp down that -soil than he would 

 stamp on the soil of his mother's grave. So 

 the plant, in nine cases out of ten, is left loose 

 and waggling ; the dry air penetrates through 

 the soil to its roots; the winds shake it; it 

 shrivels up and fails to grow ; and then come 

 the anathemas on the head of the unfortunate 

 nurseryman, who is charged with selling him 

 dead trees or plants. 



About a month ago I sent a package of a 

 dozen Roses by mail to a lady in Savannah. 



