116 
AMERICAN HOMES AND 
GARDENS 
March, 1911 
1.—After the radish seeds are planted, the soil should be pressed firm with a board. 
It should be on a level with surrounding soil. 
between layers of damp flannel. 3.—A hill is such in name only. 
3 
2.—Seeds may be tested by placing them in a warm place 
Seeds and Their Planting 
By M. Roberts Conover 
1854 N buying garden seeds you will save much 
trouble and disappointment if you get 
them from a dealer who handles the 
product of reliable seedsmen only. Other- 
wise your garden planting may become irk- 
some because of repetition, instead of the 
wholesome recreation it should be. 
A supply of seeds saved from the finest garden speci- 
mens grown the preceding season is a valuable possession 
for starting the new period. These seeds, if they have been 
kept cool and dry, should possess the maximum of vitality. 
The seeds of certain vegetables, such as corn, squash, and 
a few others, maintain their germinating power for several 
years, but the majority are good for a few months only. 
For best results, therefore, plant only those seeds that ma- 
tured last fall or summer. 
Where there is doubt as to the life of seeds, they can 
be tested by giving them 
moisture and setting them 
in a warm place. Small 
seeds are conveniently 
sprouted by sprinkling a 
few on some moist wool or 
flannel and covering them. 
After twenty-four hours 
note the proportion of live 
seeds. If after three days 
of warmth and moisture 
the proportion of live 
seeds is small, the lot is 
worthlessfor garden planting. 
For germination, live 
ceeds must have air, mois- 
ture and warmth. The 
normal conditions are 
moist, friable soil, warm to fifty degrees or more. Soil 
that remains saturated during the period for germination 
will cause the seeds to rot, as the surplus of water excludes 
the air. 
To prepare the ground for successful planting, it must 
be stirred to a depth of four or five inches at least, by 
plowing or digging. ‘This renders the soil a porous medium 
for the admission of air to the roots and drainage beneath 
Beans should be planted in very shallow furrows 
them. The surface should then be finely smoothed or pul- 
verized by a toothed tool—a harrow in large gardens or 
a steel-toothed rake for small areas. The finer the seeds 
the more thorough should be this pulverization of the 
soil. The depth of planting is regulated, not only by the 
size of the seeds, but also by their manner of growth. 
Seeds whose seed-leaves, because of their form, offer the 
least resistance to the soil, will push up to the air when very 
deeply planted, others with broad, blunt cotyledons would 
probably be smothered before they could get through. Such 
seeds as beans having this characteristic should be planted 
very shallow. 
The planting should commence as early in the spring 
as the weather permits, hardy seeds going in a month or 
six weeks before the more delicate kinds. 
Tomato seeds require sixty degrees for germination, and 
pepper and eggplants seventy degrees or more, and seeds 
of these must be grown 
under glass or indoors to 
become of size for use in 
transplanting out of doors 
in May. 
In my garden, fifty miles 
south of New York city, 
I have planted by the first 
of April, peas, flat purple- 
top Milan turnips, celery, 
lettuce, beets, radishes, 
spinach and onion sets, fol- 
lowing very simple plant- 
ing methods. For the 
dwarf peas, a broad space 
of twelve inches is pre- 
pared by drawing the soil 
away to a depth of one and 
one-half inches. I scatter the seeds over this, using one 
pint of seeds for every twenty feet of distance. The soil 
is then raked back over the seeds. 
For beets, turnips, lettuce, carrots, spinach and seeds of 
similar size, narrow shallow furrows are made and the 
seeds are sown rather thickly, covering with about one- 
quarter of an inch of earth. 
Celery seeds are so fine that there is danger of covering 
