IV. CULTIVATION IN GENERAL. 



84. I cannot dismiss this part of my subject without 

 once more cautioning the reader against the danger of 

 unripe seed. In cases where winter overtakes you before 

 your seed be quite ripe, the best way is to pull up the 

 plants and hang them by the heels in a dry airy place, till 

 all green depart from the stalks, and until they be quite 

 dry, and wholly rid of juice. Even yi hot weather, when 

 the seed would drop out, if the plants were left stand- 

 ing, pull, or cut the plants, and lay them on a cloth in 

 the sun, till the seed be all ready to fall out j for, if 

 forced from the pod, the seed is never so good. Seeds 

 will grow if gathered when they are green as grass, and 

 afterwards dried in the sun ; but they do not produce 

 plants like those coming from ripe seed. I tried, some 

 years ago, fifty grains of wheat, gathered green, against 

 fifty gathered ripe. Not only were the plants of the 

 former feeble, when compared with the latter j not only 

 was the produce of the former two-thirds less than 

 that of the latter -, but even the quality of the grain was 

 not half so good. Many of the ears had smut, which was 

 not the case with those that came from the ripened seed, 

 though the land and the cultivation were, in both cases, 

 the same. 



SOWING. 



85. THE first thing, relating to sowing, is, the prepara- 

 tion of the ground. It may be more or less fine, accord- 

 ing to the sort of seed to be sown. Peas and beans do 

 not, of course, require the earth so fine as small seeds 

 <3o. But, still, the finer the better for every thing ; for, it 



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