164 MY FARM. 



Seeding and Trenching. 



IF there is one fault above another in all the gar- 

 dening books, it is the lack of those simplest of 

 directions and suggestions, without which the novice 

 is utterly at fault. Thus, we are told in what month 

 to sow a particular seed that it must have a loamy 

 soil ; and are favored with some special learning in 

 regard to its varieties, and its Liunaean classification. 



" Pat," we say, " this seed must be planted in a 

 loamy soil." 



Pat, (scratching his head reflectively) : " And 

 shure, isn't it in the garden thin, ye'd be afther 

 planting the seed ? " 



Pat's observation is a just one ; of course we buy 

 our seed to plant in the garden, no matter what soil 

 it may love. The more important information in 

 regard to the depth of sowing it, the mode of apply- 

 ing 'any needed dressing, the requisite thinning, 

 the insect depredators, and the mode of defeat- 

 ing them is, for the most part, withheld. That the 

 matter is not without importance, one will under- 

 stand who finds, year after year, his more delicate 

 seeds failing, and the wild and attentive Irishman 

 declaring, 



" And, begorra thin, it's the ould seed." 



" But did you sow it properly, Patrick ? " 



