PETER HENDERSON <fe CO.— INTRODUCTORY. 



t'Mm ML 



HOW, WHEN, AND WHERE TO SOW. 



Extract from " Gardening for Profit," by Peter Henderson. 



As seed-sowing is the starting point of cropping, a thorough knowledge of the conditions neces- 

 sary for the germination of the different varieties will go far towards putting the tyro in gardening well 

 on the way to success. The very general want of knowledge in this matter is too often the cause of 

 much undeserved censure upon the seedsman, for in nine cases out of ten the failure is not with the 

 seeds, but results from the time or manner of planting. When the owner of a garden sends his order 

 for seeds to the seedsman, it is generally a complete list of all he wants for the season. They are received, 

 and the interesting operation of sowing is begun ; first in a hotbed, if he has one, often as early 

 as the first week in February (a. month too soon, by the way), and in go. indiscriminately, at the same 

 date, and under the same sash, his seeds of Cabbage, Cauliflower, Lettuce and Egg Plant, Peppers 

 and Tomatoes. Yet even in the waning heat of this early hotbed, where a thermometer would possibly 

 not indicate more than 50°, he finds in a week or so his Cabbage, Lettuce and Cauliflower "coming 

 through" nicely, but as yet no Egg Plants, Peppers, or Tomatoes. He impatiently waits another week. 

 makes an examination, and discovers that instead of his Tomatoes and Egg Plants beginning to vege- 

 tate, they are commencing to rot. It is now plain to him that he has been cheated ; he has been sold old 

 seed, and if he does nothing worse, he forever after looks upon the seedsman he has patronized as a venal 

 wretch, destitute of principle and honesty. But he must have Tomatoes, Peppers and Egg Plants, and he 

 buys again from another seedsman, warranted honest. He renews his hotbed ; it is now a month later, and a 

 bright March sun, with milder nights, give him the proper temperature in the hotbed — 70° or 80° — and his 

 eyes are again gladdened by the -^routing of the troublesome seed. April comes, with warm sunshine, invit- 

 ing him to begin to " make garden '' outside. He has yet the balance of the original lot of seeds that he bought 

 in February. But as he is still entirely befogged about the cause of his failure in the first hotbed, he begins 

 to open ground operations with but little confidence in his seeds, but as he has got them, they may as well 

 be tried ; and again he sows in the same way, his Peas and Lima Beans, Badishes and Pumpkins, Onions and 

 Sweet Corn. Hardy and tender get the same treatment. The result must, of necessity, be the same as it was 

 in the hotbed, the hardy seeds duly vegetate, while the tender are, of course, rotted. This time he is not 

 surprised, for he is already convinced that seedsman No. 1 is a rascal, and only wonders how any of his seeds 

 grew at all, so he again orders from seedsman No. 2, for the articles that have failed. Here circumstances 

 continue to favor the latter, for by this time the season has advanced in its temperature, and the seeds duly 

 vegetate. Every farmer knows that in this latitude, he can sow Oats or Wheat in March or April, but that if 

 he sows his Corn or Pumpkins at the same time, they will perish. This he knows, but he may not know that 

 what is true of the crops of the farm is equally true of the garden. Hence the importance of a knowledge of 

 the season when to sow vegetable seeds, or set out plants. The temperature best fitted for the germination 

 ©f seeds of the leading kinds will be 1 est understood by the following table : 



WHEN TO SOW VEGETABLE SEEDS. 



Vegetable seeds that may be sown in this latitude, 

 from the middle of March to the end of April, ther- 

 mometer in the shade averaging 45 degrees: 



Beets, Cabbage, Lettuce, Peas, 



Carrot, Cauliflower, Onions, Badish, 



Celery, Endive, Parsnip, Spinach, 



Cress, Kale, Parsley, Turnip. 



Vegetable seeds that may be sown in the open 

 ground in this latitude, from the middle of May to 

 the middle of June, thermometer in the shade aver- 

 aging 60 degrees. 



Lima Beans, Cucumber, Pumpkin, 



Bush Beans, Musk Melon, Tomato, 



Pole Beans, Water Melon, Squash, 



Sweet Corn, Okra, Nasturtium. 



