ROOT CROP PROJECTS 



189 



8. Drilling the seed. — Germination tests should be made of 

 each kind of seed to be planted and the rate of sowing regulated 

 accordingly. The tendency in sowing all of the root crops is to 

 use too much seed, thus 

 increasing the labor of 

 thinning in order to avoid 

 a harvest of small roots, 

 due to the crowding of the 

 plants. It is exceedingly 

 important to drill just 

 the right amount. The 

 literature of root crop 

 seeding should be care- 

 fully reviewed so that 

 this serious mistake will 

 not be made. 



The depth of covering 

 should be regulated by 

 the kind of seed and by 

 the character of the soil. 

 Most of the seeds should 

 be covered with about 

 half an inch of fine, moist 

 soil. Hand drills are 

 essential in large market 

 gardens, but in small 

 gardens the seeds may 

 be distributed rapidly in 

 shallow furrows by the use of an envelope as explained in 

 W : 53. After the furrow has been closed with the back of a 

 garden rake or other convenient tool, firming the soil with 

 the hoe or with the feet brings the particles of moist soil 

 into close contact with the seeds, thus causing them to 



Fro. 48. — Good roots of salsify. 



