278 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



hen into it, in a shady place, but near the sun. 

 A/5 in April you gladly turn it to the sun wher- 

 ever you can find it, so in June turn it away. Let 

 it be near covert for the chickens, shrubs, arti- 

 chokes, pears, anything that produces shade and 

 hai'bors insects. You will find your chickens live 

 thei-e a great part of the day, and always when 

 the sun is most powerful. They find there the 

 insects that have deserted the parched grass. Let 

 them be well and frequently supplied with fresh 

 and cool water. If you can do it, or have it done, 

 you will find a great advantage in having a few 

 pails of water scattered every evening on the 

 ground they use in the day. It freshens it, and 

 keeps it cooL To sum up ; give your chickens 

 shade, clean and cool water, with a run affording 

 them covert ; and we promise you, you shall say 

 and prove that the prejudice against June chick- 

 ens is a popular error. 



For the Neic England Farmer, 

 BETROSPECTIVE NOTES. 



"Steeping Barley before Sowing." — The 

 little item with this heading, on page 155 of the 

 Farmer for April, and in the weekly issue of March 

 15th, may, it seems not improbable, lead some be- 

 ginner in farming, or some one of limited experi- 

 ence, into expenditures of time, labor, and money, 

 for Avhich the returns will be very trifling indeed, 

 and far short of the expectations which the last 

 sentence of tliis quoted item would be likely to 

 excite in farmers of large credulity and small ex- 

 perience. In this last sentence it is assiled that 

 a writer in the Homestead thinks that the benefit 

 or increase of crop, from steeping seed barley, be- 

 fore sowing, in a solution of copperas or blue vi- 

 triol, and then rolling it in plaster, would be as 

 great as that which might be obtained from ten 

 extra loads of manure per acre. 



Seeing, then, that this item, quoted from the 

 ffomestead, is liable to mislead young and inex- 

 perienced farmers, and that it is objectionable for 

 other reasons, it seems proper that some one of 

 the members of the Neio England Farmer Mutu- 

 al Improvement Club should utter a word of cau- 

 tion in regard to it, for the benefit of the younger 

 and less experienced members. The caution 

 needed, in this case, is just such a one as an old 

 farmer, who had given up the care of his farm to 

 his son, or to a tenant, might be supposed to ad- 

 dress to either of these, if his opinion were asked 

 in relation to it, and an inclination manifested to 

 believe the statement made, and to treat some 

 seed barley, or other seed, in accordance with the 

 statement. Such a one, in such circumstances, 

 would be likely to say that the recommendation in 

 the Homestead was of little value, inasmuch as 

 the amount of the copperas, or blue vitriol to be 

 used, was not mentioned, nor the strength of the 

 solution in which the seed was to be steeped. 

 Another defect in this recommendation is, that 

 the length of time during which the seed must be 

 steeped, in order to produce the same eff"ect as ten 

 extra loads of manure, is not mentioned. "Be as- 

 sured," he would say, "that if you are to get as 

 much increase of crop from steeping your seed in 

 a solution of copperas or blue vitriol, as you would 

 get from ten extra loads of manure, you will have 

 to be loondrously particular about the exact num- 



ber of ounces or pounds of these salts to be put 

 into your solution, as well as about the exact 

 length of time during which the seed must remain 

 in this marvel-working solution." Until the writer 

 of the article referred to informs you and the pub- 

 lic as to these points, so essential to success in 

 making such an experiment, I would advise you 

 to regard that writer's recommendation as one of 

 the many inexact and untested opinions, whims, 

 notions, or guesses as to what might be in certain 

 circumstances, which are to be met with occasion- 

 ally, not merely in common conversation, but also 

 in print. I would give more for one experiment 

 conducted with care and exactness, and accurately 

 reported, than for all the loose, inexact observa- 

 tions, whims, suppositions, guesses and such like, 

 which I might hear and read from June to Janu- 

 ary. 



On page 183 of the April number the reader 

 will find another item — "Soaking of Seeds." As 

 to steeping seed in general, before sowing, it may 

 be said that, except in the case of such seeds as 

 those of the carrot and beet, there are scaixely 

 any, for field crops, which can be steeped long 

 enough to forward germination, without some risk. 

 For sowing in gardens, seeds may be steeped long 

 enough to forward germination and the growth of 

 plants several days, without much risk ; but in 

 the case of the seed of field crops, there is always 

 a risk from rains or something else happening to 

 prevent the sowing of the seed at the proper stage, 

 or without delay. And if there should l)e a delay 

 of several days, the germinating process must eith- 

 er go on, and go too far, or must be arrested for 

 want of moisture, in which last case the vitality of 

 the seed — of some seeds at least — would almost 

 certainly be destroyed. Then, again, in the case 

 of a drouth, and the ground becoming exceedingly 

 dry before the seed shall have been steeped long 

 enough, there is a great risk — almost a certainty 

 — that seed just commencing to sprout shall die, 

 if put into ground so drj' that it can find no mois- 

 ture. 



Upon the Avhole, then, it may be said, that the 

 soaking of seeds for field crops is a process which 

 requires the exercise of much good judgment, and 

 a knowledge of the laws or conditions of germina- 

 tion, as without these, there is fully more likeli- 

 hood of damage than of advantage from the pro- 

 cess. Nevertheless, there is an advantage which 

 may be secured by the adoption of this process of 

 soaking seeds, especially when the steep is one 

 which contains some highly fertilizing ingredients, 

 as that mentioned on page 183 of the April num- 

 ber, in an item quoted from the Michigan Farm- 

 er. The celebrated German agricultural chemist, 

 Liebig, in his "Letters on Modern Agriculture," 

 states that no Chinese farmer ever sows or plants 

 a seed before it has been soaked in some liquid 

 manure, or in a solution of some manurial matter 

 in water, and has begun to germinate ; and that 

 experience has taught the Ciiinese farmers that 

 this operation tends not only to promote the more 

 rapid and vigorous growth and development of 

 plants, but also to protect the seed from the rava- 

 ges of worms and insects. 



A few items of our own experience in soaking 

 seeds before sowing, may be of service, either as 

 guidance, or as warnings, and with these we will 

 leave this useful, but somewhat risky operation, to 

 the consideration and the cautious trials of our 



