CROPS AND PROFITS. 165 



" Didn't I, faith ? I byried 'em an inch if I 

 byried 'em at all." 



An inch of earth will do for some seeds, but for 

 others, it is an Irish burial without the wake. 



The conditions of germination are heat, air, and 

 moisture. Covering should not be so shallow as to 

 forego the last, nor so deep as to sacrifice the other 

 essential influences. Heat alone will not do ; air and 

 moisture alone will not do. A careful gardener will 

 be guided by the condition of his soil, and the char- 

 acter of his seed. If this have hard woody covering 

 like the beet, he will understand that it demands 

 considerable depth, to secure the moisture requisite 

 to swell the kernel ; or that it should be aided by a 

 steep, before sowing. If, on the other hand, it be a 

 light fleecy seed, like the parsnip, he will perceive 

 the necessity of bringing the earth firmly in contact 

 with it. 



As a general rule, the depth of covering should 

 not exceed two or three times the shortest diameter 

 of the seed ; this plainly involves so light a covering 

 for the lettuces, parsley, and celery, that a judicious 

 gardener will cover by simply sifting over them a 

 sprinkling of fine loam, which he will presently wet 

 down thoroughly (unless the sun is at high noon), 

 with his water-pot medicined with a slight pinch of 



10. 



