138 



T H E N E W GENESEE FAR M E R, 



Vol. 1. 



On Propogation by Het-dsau'.l Cultivatioit. 



In order to have good vegclobles, berljs, fruils, and 

 fljwere, we nmit be carfful and diligent in the propo- 

 gation and cultivation of the eeveral plants; l>r, tho' 

 nature does much, she will not do all. lie who trueta 

 to chance for a crop, detervos none, and he generally 

 has what he deserves. 



The propngniion of plants is the bringing them 

 J'niih, or the increasing und mullij.dijing of them. — 

 This is effected in several different ways: by seals, by I 

 suckers, by offsrlls, by linjcrs, by cuttings. But bear 

 in mind, that nil plants, from the Radish to the Oak, 

 mini be propogatcd by the means of s-ed; while there 

 arc many plants which can be propogatcd by no other 

 means; and, of these, the Radish find the Oak arc. 

 Let me juBt qualily, here, by obs^'rving, that I enter 

 not into the deep qiieition (which so many have puz- 

 zled thoir hendi with) oi cqnirocnl generation. 1 con- 

 fine mybclf to things of which we have a certain know- 

 ledge. 



With regard to propogation by inenns other than 

 that of seed, I thall speak of it fully enough under 

 the names of the seveial pLnnu-, which are, as to the 

 way of propogating them, to be considered aG excep- 

 tions to the general rule. Therefore 1 shall in the pre- 

 sent chapter, treat of propagation by seed only. 



Cultivation must of cmnee differ in some respects; 

 to suit itself to certain diUcrenccs in the plonts to be 

 cultivated; but there are some principles and rules 

 which apply to the cultivation of all plains; and it is 

 of these only that 1 propose to speak at present. 



It is quite useless, indeed it is grosfily absurd to pre- 

 pare land, and to incur trouble and c.\pense, without 

 duly, and even rtrij currfiUlij, attending to the seed 

 we are going to bow. The sort, the gcnuiiie7icss, the 

 soiaidncss, arc all matters to be attended to, if we mean 

 to avoid mortificaliou nnd lose. Therefore the first 

 thing is, the 



!^ort of Seed. — We shoidd make sure here; for 

 what a loss to have Inte cabbages instead of early ones! 

 As to beans, peas, and many other things, there can- 

 not easily be mistike or dccc|Uion. But, as to cobba- 

 ge?, cauliflowers, tornips, ladiEhce, onions, leeks, nnd 

 numerous others, the eye is no guide at all. If, there- 

 fore, you do not save your own seed, (of the manner 

 of doing which I thall fpeak by and by,) you ought 

 to be very careful of whom you puichase of; and 

 though the sjller bo n person of perfect probity, he 

 may be deceived himself. If you do not save your 

 own seed, which, aa will be seen, cannot always be 

 done with safety, all you can do, is to take every pro- 

 caution you can when you purchase. Bo very partic- 

 ular, very full ond clear, in the orleryou give forseed. 

 Know the seedsman well, if possible Speak to him 

 yourself on the subject if you can; and, in short, take 

 every precaution in your po^ver, in order to avoid the 

 mortifications bke th'ise of having one sort of cabbage 

 when you e.tpccieJ another, niid of having rape, 

 when you expected turnips or ru;a baga. 



True Seed, — But, besides the kind, there is the 

 genuineness to be considered. For instance, you 

 want si:gnr-lo.if ciihbi:ge. The seed you sow may be 

 cabbage: it may too, he sugar-loaf, or more that than 

 any thing else; b it still, it may not be true to its 

 hind. It may have become degenerate; it may have 

 become mixed or crossed, in generating; and thus the 

 plants may very much disappoint you. True seed is a 

 great thing; for, not only the time of the crop coming 

 in, but the quantity and quality of it grcnily depends 

 upon the trucnees of the seed. You have plants, to 

 be sure; that ia to say, you linvc fomcthing growing; 

 but you will not, if the seed be not irnc, have the thing 

 you want. 



To insure true seed, you must, if you purchase, 

 take all the precautions recommended as to sort of 

 seed. It will be seen presendy, thit to save true seed 

 yourself, is not a very easy matter. And therefore, 

 you must sometimes purchase. Find a seedsman that 

 does not deceive you, and stick to him. But ob=erve, 

 that no seedsman can alwats be sure. He cannot 

 raise all his <eed3 himsell. He must trust to others. 

 Of course, he may, himself, bo deceived. Some 

 kinds of seed will keep a good many years; and 

 therefore, when you find you have got some vcri/ 

 true seed of any sort, get Rome more of it: get 09 

 much as will last you for tho number of years that 

 such seed will keep. 



Soundness of Seed. — Seed may be of the right 

 sort; it may be true to it sort; and yet, ii' it be unsound 

 it will not grow, and of course is a great deal worse 

 ihaa useless, because the sowing of it occasions loss of 

 time, loss of cost of seed, lot-s of use ot'lnml, and loss 

 of labor, to say nothing about the disappointment and 

 mortification. Here again, if you purdtase, you 



.must rely on the sccdi-ninn; and therefore all the 

 aforementioned precautions are necessary as to this 

 point also. In this case (especially il the sowing be ex- 

 tensive) the injury may lie very great; and there is no 

 redress. If a man sell you one sort of teed for anoth- 

 er; or, if he sell you untrue seed, the law will give 

 you rcdrc:i3 to the full extent of the injury proved, 

 and the jiroof can be produced. But if the seed does 

 not come up, what proof have you ? Yon may prove 

 the bowlni;, but who is to prove that the seed was nut 

 chilled or scorched in the ground! That it was not 

 ■destroyed in coming up, or in germinating? 



There are however, means of ascertaining whether 

 seed be sound or not, before you sow it in the ground. 

 I know of no seed, which, if sound nnd really good, 

 will not sink in water. The unsoundness of seed ari- 

 ses from Ecveral causes. Unripeness, blight, mouldi- 

 ness and age, are the most frequent of these causes. 

 The two firot, if e.xcpesive, prevent the seed from ever 

 having the germinating quality in.them. Mouldineee 

 arises from the seed being kept in a damp place, or 

 from its having heated. When dried again it becomes 

 light. Aae will caiitic the germinating qualities to 

 cvapiirateT though, whore there is a great proportion 

 of oil in the seed, this quality will remain in it many 

 years. 



The way to try seed is this: put a small quantity of 

 it in luke warm water, and let the water be four or 

 five inches deep. A mug or baoin will do, but a large 

 tumbler glafcs is best; for then you can see the bottom 

 as well cs lop. Some seeds, tuch as those of cabbage, 

 radish and turnip, will, if good, go the bottom at once. 

 Cucumber, melon, lettuce, endive; and many others, 

 rcquii-e many minutes. Parsnip and corrot, and all 

 the winged seeds, require to be worked by your fin- 

 gers in a little water, and well wetted, before you put 

 them into the glass; and the carrot should be rubbed 

 so as to get off part of the hairs, which would other- 

 wise act as the feathers do aa to a duck. The seed uf 

 beet and mangel wurtzcl are in a case or shell. The 

 rough things that we sow are not the seeds, but the 

 cases in which the seeds are contained, each case con- 

 taining from one to five seeds. Therefore, the trial 

 by water is not, as to these two seeds, conclusive, 

 thous;h. if the seed be very good, if there be foer or five 

 in a case, shell and all will sink in water, after being 

 in the glass an hour. And as it is a matter of such 

 great importance, that every seed should grow in a 

 case where the plants stand so fiir opart; ns gaps in a 

 row of beets and mangel wurtzcl are so very injurious, 

 the best way is to reject all seed that will not sink, ense 

 and all, aftor being put into hot water and remaining 

 there an hour. 



But seeds of all sorts are sometimes, if not always, 

 part sound nnd part unsound; and as the former is not 

 to be rejected on account of the latter, the proportion 

 of each should be asceitnined if a separation be not 

 made. Count then ahundredseedE,laken promircoutly, 

 and put them into water as before directed. If fi.ty 

 sink and fifty swim, then h.tlf your seed is bad and 

 half good; and so in proportion toother numbers o; 

 sinkers and swimmers. There may be plants, the 

 sound seed of which will not sink; but I know of 

 none. If to be found in any instance, they would, 1 

 think, be found in the tulip-tree, the ash, the birch, 

 and the parsnip, all of which are furnished with so 

 largo a portion of wing. Yet oil these, if sound, will 

 sink, if put into wann water, with the wet worked a 

 little into the wings first. 



There is however, another way of ascertaining this 

 important fact, the soundness or unsoundness ot seed; 

 and that is by soiring them. If you have a hot led; 

 or if not, put a hundred seeds, taken as before direct- 

 ed, sow them in a llowcr pot, and plunge the pot into 

 the earth under the glass in the hot bed, or hand glass. 

 The climate under the glass is warm; nnd a very few 

 days will tell you what proportion of your seed is 

 sound. Butthcr-e is this to be said, that, with strong 

 heat under; and with such curnplete protection above, 

 seed may come up that would not come up in the open 

 ground. There may be enough of the germinating to 

 cause vcgctaton in a hot-bed, and not enough to catrse 

 it in the open air and cold ground. Therefore, I in- 

 cline to the opinion that we should try seeds as our 

 ancestoi-a tried witches; not by fire, but by water; and 

 that, following up their practice, we should leprobate 

 and destroy oil that do not readily sink. 



Saring and Prescrring Seed. — This is a most im- 

 portant branch of the gardener's business. There are 

 rules applicable to particular plants. Theiso will be 

 given in the proper places. It is my business here to 

 speak of such as arc applicable to all plants. 



First, as to the saving of seed, the truest plants 

 should be selected, such as are of the most perfect 

 shape and quality. In the cabbage wc seek small 



stem, well formed loaf, few spaie or loose leavcf; in 

 the turnip, large bulb, small neck, slender-stalked 

 leaves, solid flesh or pulp; in the radish, high color (if 

 led or scarlet,) sinall neck, lew and short leaves, and 

 long top. The marks of perfection are well known; 

 and none but perfect plants should be saved for seed. — 

 The case is somewhat different ne to plants, which are 

 some male and others female, but these present excep- 

 tions are to be noticed under the names of such plants, 



Of plants, the early coming of which is a circunv 

 stance of importance, the very earliest shoidd be cho. 

 sen forseed; for they will mo.-it always be found to in. 

 elude the highest degree of perfection in other respects, 

 They should have great pains taken with them"; thi 

 soil and situation should be good; and they should b: 

 carefully cultivated during the time that they are car. 

 tying on their seed 10 perfection. 



But effectual means must be taken to prevent a mi: 

 ing of the sorts, or, to speak in the language of foriTi- 

 crs, a crossing vf the breeds. There can be no croi 

 between the sheep and the dog; but there can be be. 

 tween the dog and the wolf; and we daily see it be. 

 twecn the greyhound and hound; each valuable whei 

 true to his kind: and a cross between the two, fit fc 

 nothing but the rojic; a word which, on this occasioi 

 I use in preference to that ol halter, out of resi.cct ft 

 the modern laws and usoges of my native country. | 



There can be no cross between a cabbage and a car. 

 rot; but there may between a cabbage and a'turnip; be- 

 tween a cabbage and a caulit'o^\er, nothing is more 

 comuron; and as the different sorts of cabbages, they 

 will produce crosses, presenting twenty, and perhaps 

 a thousand degrees from the Eorly York to the Savo- 

 ry. Turnips will mix with radishes and rula baga; 

 all these with rape; the result will mix with cabbages 

 and cauliflowers; so that, if nothing were done to pre- 

 serve plants true to their kind, our gardens would 

 soon present its with little besides mete herbage. 



Suffice it now, that we know that sorts w-ill mix, 

 when seed plants of the same tribe stand near each 

 other; ond we may easily suppose that this may pro- 

 bably take place though the plaitta stand at a consider- 

 oble distance apart, since I have, in the case of my In-. 

 diancorn, given proof of mixture when the plants 

 were three hundred i/ards from each other. AVhat 

 must be the consequences then of saving seeds from 

 cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, squashes, and gourds, 

 all growing in the same garden at the sometime ? To 

 save the seed of two sorts of any tribe, in the same 

 garden, in the same year, ought not to be attempted; 

 and this it is, that makes it difficult for any one man to 

 raise all sorts of seeds, good and true. 



However, seme may be saved by every one who baa 

 a garden; and when raised, they ought to be carefully 

 preserved. They are best preserved in the pod, or on 

 the stalks. Seeds of many sorts will be perfectly good 

 to the age of eight or ten years, if kept in the pod or 

 the stalks, which seeds, if threshed, will be good for 

 little at the end of three years or less. However, to 

 keep seeds without threshing them out, is seldom con- 

 venient, often impracticable, nnd always exposes them 

 to injury from mice and rats, and from various other 

 enemies, of which however, the greatest is careless- 

 ness. Therefore, the best way is, except for things 

 that are very curious, and that lie in a small compass, 

 to thresh out all seeds. 



They should stand till perfecdy ripe, if possible. — 

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

 e dry; and they should, if possible, be dry ns dry 

 can he, before they are threshed out. If when thresh- 

 ed, any moisture remain about them, they should be 

 placed in the sun, or near a file in a dry room; and 

 when quite dry, should be put into bags, nnd then hung 

 up against a very dry wall, where they will by no ac- 

 cident get damp. The best place is some room, or 

 |ilace, where there is, occasionally at least, a fire kept 

 in winter. — Silk Groieer. 



I 



Newsjtnpers. 



A child beginning to read, becomes delighted with 

 a newspaper, because he reads of names and things 

 which are very familiar, nnd he will make a progress 

 accordingly. A newspaper in one year, suys Mr. 

 Weeks, is worth a quarter's schooling to a child, ond 

 n cry father mirst consider that substantial inlbrma- 

 lion is connected with this advancement. The mo- 

 ther of a family being one of its lioads. and having a 

 more irnmcdiale chorge of the children, ought to bo 

 intelligeirt of mind, pure in language, and alwas'S 

 cheerful and circumspect. As the instructor of her 

 ■hildrcn, she should herself be instructed. 



A mind occupied, becomes fortified against the ills 

 ■if life, and is braced for any emergency. Children, 

 imused by reading and siuely, are of course consider- 

 itc and more cosily governed. 



