USE OF THE FEET IX SOWIXG^N^PJ.A.^TI^^ ^ 1]>1 



As a proof of the value of such improvements which 

 have led to simplifying our operations, I Avill state the 

 fact that though my area of greenhouse surface is now 

 more than double that which it was in 1870, and the 

 land used in our florist's business is one-tl;ird more, the 

 number of hands employed is less now than in 1870, and 

 yet, at the same time, the quality of our stock is vastly 

 better now than then. 



Whether it is the higher price of labor in this country 

 that forces us into labor-saving expedients, or the inter- 

 change of opinions from the greater number of nation- 

 alities centering here, that gives us broader views of cul- 

 ture, I am not prepared to state ; but that America is 

 now selling nearly all the products of the greenhouse, 

 garden, nursery and farm lower than is done in Europe, 

 admits of no question ; and if my homely suggestions in 

 this matter of firming the soil around newly planted 

 seeds or plants will in any degree assist us in still holding 

 to the front, I shall be gratified. 



In the summer of 1886 I had a visit from one of the 

 market gardeners of Norfolk, Va., who told me that he 

 annually grows fifty acres of Spinach, but that often by 

 dry weather in autumn, only a partial crop was obtained, 

 owing to the failure of the seed to germinate. I asked 

 him if he trod in the seed with the feet ; he said no, that 

 it would be quite a big job to tread in rows at one foot 

 apart on an area of fift} r acres. A little calculation 

 showed that it could be done for less than $50, and when 

 it is known 'that a good crop of Spinach grown in Nor- 

 folk will sell in the markets of New York for at least 

 $300 an acre, it will readily be seen that it would hardly 

 be worth while to withhold $1 per acre extra labor, if it 

 would, as it undoubtedly would in many cases, secure a 

 crop. Seedsmen have more complaint of Spinach seed 

 failing to germinate than perhaps anything else, as it has 

 usually to be sown in hot, dry weather, but failure would 



