1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



270 



brother-readers of the N. E. Farmer. As to seeds 

 that germinate slowly, such as the carrot and the 

 beet, we have usually mixed them with sand or 

 sandy loam, stirring them well together, keeping 

 the mixture moist, and on the south side of the 

 house, between a week and two weeks, and taking 

 the box into the kitchen, or protecting it when the 

 nights threatened to be cold. When carrot seed 

 is prepared in this way, the mixture moistened 

 with a solution of hen manure, and some gypsum 

 added just before sowing, we get the carrots to 

 start before the weeds, and so avoid one of the 

 greatest troubles in raising this crop. If ever we 

 should raise tobacco, we would treat this slow- 

 sprouting seed in the same way, keeping it in 

 moist sand, and in a warm place, two weeks before 

 sowing it. Our trials in soaking corn have some- 

 times succeeded in giving the plants an earlier and 

 more vigorous start ; and in one instance, when 

 the ground became exceedingly dry before the 

 whole of the seed corn could be sprouted, the 

 young sprouts died in the dry ground, and a sec- 

 ond planting became necessary. MoEE Anon. 



CURIOUS PHENOMENON. 



"How is it that you raise such large and nice 

 onions ?" I asked of an Iowa farmer, as I was sit- 

 ting at table with him, and observing some on the 

 table. 



"Well," said he, "we sprout the seed with boil- 

 ing water, and then plant it early and in good 

 ground." 



"Sprout the seed in boiling water ?" I ex- 

 claimed, inquiringly. "What do you mean, sir, 

 by that ? Won't boiling water kill the seed ?" 



"Not at all," he replied ; "but it will sprout 

 them, in one minute's time." 



"It will? It looks incredible," I replied, with 

 surprise. 



"Well, you try it," he replied, "when the time 

 comes to plant, and you'll find it just as I tell 

 you." 



And, sure enough, when spring came, and my 

 neighbor was planting his onion seed, being pres- 

 ent, I said : 



"Jewell, last winter, there was a man in Iowa 

 told me that to pour boiling water on black onion 

 seed would sprout it in one minute. Suppose you 

 try it?" 



"Very well," said he. And taking the teakettle 

 from the stove, he poured the boiling water on 

 the seed, which he had in a saucer. Looking 

 closely at it for a moment, he exclaimed, "You 

 have told rightly. Only look there." 



I looked, and behold, the little sprouts about as 

 large as horse hairs were shooting out of the 

 opened ends of the seeds ! He did not retain the 

 water on the seed above three seconds, and in less 

 than one-half minute after it was poured off, the 

 sprouts were projecting from the seeds. 



My Iowa friend assured me that this process 

 would advance the growth of the onion two or 

 three weeks beyond the ordinary method of plant- 

 ing without sprouting. 



that happens to him ? One man, whose health is 

 depressed, sees his own fii'eside, that used to burn 

 so cheerily, only colored with gloom and sadness. 

 Another, of a bright and joyous mind, in the full 

 vigor of health, will go forth, and the very desert 

 to that man's eye will rejoice, and the very wilder- 

 ness to his view will blossom as the rose, and the 

 saddest strains in nature will sound to him the 

 most joyous and brilliant. A sufferer goes out 

 and looks on nature, and its roses all become 

 thorns, its myrtles all look like briars, and the 

 sweetest minstrelsy of the grove and forest sounds 

 to him like a wild wailing minor running through 

 all the sounds of nature. 



How Health Brightens Things. — God has 

 so knit the mind and body together, that they act 

 and re-act upon each other. Who has not felt that 

 the state of health gives a coloring to everything 



For the Netc England Farmer. 



HOW SHALL OUB SONS 



BE BEST EDUCATED FOR THE OCCUPATION OF 

 THE FARMER? 



This is a question of deepest interest to the 

 State, and to every individual in it ; and well may 

 it engross the attention of its Executive head. I 

 do not claim to be much of a farmer myself, for 1 

 never felt that I had the body for the work of a 

 farm — for to farm advantageously, demands en- 

 ergetic and continued labor. The farmer must 

 rise with the lark — "he must keep his eyes right 

 on, and his eye-lids right forward" — he must be 

 intent on his business, and let other callings alone. 

 Not that he should not understand enough of oth- 

 ers, to guard against being imposed upon, but his 

 ambition should ever be, to be an intelligent and 

 successful farmer. To be this, he must know the 

 nature of the soil he cultivates, and the uses to be 

 made of the crops he grows. He must soon learn 

 how to make both ends meet. Farming, good 

 farming, is not a fancy business ; but it should be 

 entered upon as the means of living. The best 

 farmers I have ever known, are those who have 

 sprung up and matured on the farm — under the 

 guidance of fathers, who were not ashamed to 

 work. One of the greatest embarrassments to 

 any pursuit, is feeling above one's business. The 

 farmer-boy should ever feel that he is as good as 

 any other, and no better, and never should feel 

 above his business. He should never be ashamed 

 of the dress that is best suited to his employment, 

 but should stand up straight in it, and let others 

 perceive that he feels himself equal to the best, and 

 in no manner degraded by his occupation. Shall 

 this kind of instruction be acquired on the form, 

 or at the school ? I say on the farm. I would as 

 soon think of making a boy a skilful navigator, 

 without his ever going upon the water, as to make 

 him a good fanner, without his working upon the 

 land. 



I have thought the Reform School at West- 

 boro' might advantageously be converted into a 

 school for instruction in agriculture. Here are 

 three hundred hoys, whose services can be con- 

 trolled for a period oi seven years, until they arrive 

 at the age of twenty-one. Here is abundance of 

 land, centrally situated, and if it be possible by 

 school instruction to teach boys to be farmers, this, 

 with suitable guides to their labor, and a suitable 

 plan of operation, would seem to be the plan. The 

 same may be said of the schools of reform, in our 

 cities and counties. By such a plan of manage- 

 ment, these institutions, instead of being a tax 



