12 THE FAEM. 



as to plants, which are some male and others female, but these present 

 exceptions, to be noticed under the names of such plants. 



Of plants the early coming of which is a circumstance of importance, 

 the very earliest should be chosen for seed ; for, they will almost al- 

 ways be found to include the highest degree of perfection in other 

 respects. 



Effectual means must be taken to prevent a mixing of the sorts, or, 

 to speak in the language of farmers, a crossing of the breeds. There 

 can be no cross between the sheep and the dog ; but there can be be- 

 tween the dog and the wolf. 



There can be no cross between a cabbage and a carrot ; but there 

 can be between a cabbage and a turnip; between a cabbage and a caul- 

 iflower, nothing is more common ; and, as to the different sorts of cab- 

 bages, they will produce crosses, presenting twenty, and perhaps a 

 thousand degrees, from the early York to the Savoy. Turnips will mix 

 with radishes and ruta-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 us with 

 little beside mere herbage. 



To Test their Soundness. — To avoid the delays which arise from sow- 

 ing unsound seeds, it is always best to test their soundness, and to ascer- 

 tain the proportion of good and poor seeds. This may be done either 

 by putting them into warm water, in which, after they are wetted, sound 

 seeds will sink ; or by sowing a sample of them in some convenient 

 vessel of moistened earth, which should be kept in a warm place. 



Sowing. — The first thing relating to sowing is the preparation of the 

 ground. It may be more or less fine, according to the sort of seed to be 

 sown. Peas and beans do not, of course, require the earth so fine as 

 small seeds do. But still, the finer the better for every thing ; for it is 

 best if the seed be actually pressed by the earth in every part ; and 

 many seeds, if not all, are best situated when the earth is trodden down 

 upon them. 



Of course the ground should be good, either in itself, or made good 

 by manure of some sort. But, in all cases, the ground should be fresh ; 

 that is to say, it should be dng just before the act of sowing, in order 

 that the seeds may have the full benefit of the fermentation that takes 

 place upon every moving of the earth. 



Never sow when the ground is wet ; nor, indeed, if it can be avoided, ' 

 perform any other act with or on the ground of a garden. If you dig 

 ground in wet weather, you make a sort of mortar of it : it binds when 

 the sun or wind dries it. The fermentation does not take place ; and it 

 becomes unfavorable to vegetation, especially if the ground be in the 

 smallest degree stiff in its nature. 



Fall Sowing. — Some, and indeed many things usually sown only in 

 the spring, may, with advantage, be sown in the fell — as parsnips, car- 

 rots, beets, onions, lettuce, pease, and all plants that a slight frost vnll 

 not cut down. Care should be taken not to sow early enough to have 

 the plants come up before frosts set in. The seed, in this way, will lie 

 safe all winter, though the frost should penetrate three feet below them. 

 When heavy frosts come on, but not befpre, the beds should be covered 



