SEEDING, PLANTING AND YIELDS 



137 



Fig. 206. A corn-planter. 



Storing of seeds. 



The first requisite to the keeping of seeds is to have them well grown, from strong and healthy 

 parents. The second requisite is to have them well cured, or free from mold and damp. Usually it is 

 best to thresh before storing, for there is less danger from damp and 

 from vermin, and the seeds occupy less space. The room should be dry 

 and devoid of great extremes in temperature. Very low temperature 

 is less inimical than very high temperature. Moist seeds are less able 

 to withstand extremes of temperature than dry seeds. Ordinary winter 

 temperatures in a secure loft are harmless. In large quantities seeds are 

 usually best stored in bags. (Fig. 189.) In all cases, 

 it is well to keep the bags or boxes tied or shut, to 

 avoid currents of air and thereby avoid either too 

 much dampness or too great drying, and to exclude 

 vermin. Most nests of drawers allow runways for 

 mice. Fig. 190 illustrates poor and good construction. 

 Peas and beans and maize are specially liable to in- 

 jury by weevils when in storage. Bisulfid of carbon 

 may be poured into the receptacle on the seeds. It 

 quickly volatilizes and destroys all animal life if the receptacle is immediately closed tight. A tear 

 spoonful is sufficient for eight or ten quarts of seed in a very tight box or drawer. Carbon bisulfid is 

 very inflammable and care should be exercised to avoid the danger of an explosion. It should never 

 be handled freely in rooms containing fires of any kind. It is a thin liquid, volatilizing at low 

 temperatures ; therefore the receptacles containing it should be tightly sealed. Hydrocyanic acid gas 

 (made by pouring sulfuric acid on pieces of cyanide of potassium) may be used to destroy insects when 



they infest whole rooms or buildings. This gas is 

 exceedingly poisonous, however, and it should be used 

 only by those who have had experience. (See page 45.) 



Planting calendar. 



In the great expanse of North America, it is impos- 

 sible to give in any brief space a very useful list 

 of dates for the planting of the various field crops. 

 The subject is one that demands careful and pro- 

 longed study, however. It needs to be approached 

 from the point of view of phenology, and to be related 

 to farm-practice questions. (See discussion of Phenol- 

 ogy on pages 532 and 533, Volume I.) To be of much 

 service, such records should be averages of several 

 years. The farmer, long accustomed to a locality, depends less on the calendar than on the general 

 state of the weather and the "signs" of the season. It is an old custom to plant corn when the oak 

 leaves are the size of a squirrel's ear. In order to systematize their business and to establish a fixed 

 point to which men may work, some large planters set a formal date on which they plant certain crops 

 year after year. The season, however, properly determines the date of planting. The forwardness of grass 

 and trees, the condition of the soil, the type of crop succession, all indicate season of planting. As a 

 suggestion to the uninstructed planter, the average or usual dates of planting have been secured from 

 careful persons in several parts of the country, and these dates are given on the following pages for what 

 they may be worth to the reader. These records will, 

 be suggestive to the beginner, to whom any fixed 

 points or standards, of whatever kind, are valuable in 

 enabling him to plan his work. As he becomes expe- 

 rienced, the fixed and formal epochs will have less 

 significance to him. In a restricted region, it is pos- 

 sible to give advice by months. Once books called 

 "calendars" were popular, particularly with gar- 

 deners; but these are inapplicable to continental 

 areas. Fig. 2O8. a sulky lister, for planting com. 



Fig. 207. Riding cotton- and corn-planter. 



