CULTIVATION IN GENERAL. CHAP. I 



79. They should stand till perfectly ripe, if possible. I 

 They should be cut, or pulled, or gathered, when it I 

 is dry j and, they should, if possible, be dry as dry can I 

 be, before they are threshed out. If, when threshed, any I 

 moisture remain about them, they should be placed in the I 

 sun : or, near a fire in a dry room ; and, when quite dry, I 

 should be put into bags, and hung up against a very dry I 

 wall, or dry boards, where they will by no accident get 

 damp. The best place is some room, or place, where 

 there is, occasionally at least, afire kept in winter, 



80. Thus preserved, kept from open air and from damp, 

 the seeds of vegetables will keep sound and good for 

 sowing for the number of years stated in the following 

 list j to which the reader will particularly attend. Some 

 of the seeds in this list will keep, sometimes, a year 

 longer, if very well saved and very well preserved, 

 and especially if closely kept from exposure to the open 

 air. But, to lose a crop from unsoundness of seed is a 

 sad thing, and, it is indeed, negligence wholly inex- 

 cusable to sow seed of the soundness of which we are 

 not certain. 



