20 EicHARD Frotschee's Almaxac and Garden Manual 



SOWING SEEDS. 



Some seeds are sown at once, where they are to remain and mature. 

 Others are sown in seed beds and transplanted afterwards. Seeds 

 should be covered according to their size, a coTering of earth twice the 

 size of the seed is about the maximum. Some seeds, such as Beans, 

 Corn and Peas, can be covered from one to two inches, and they will 

 come up well. Here is a difference again. Wrinkled Peas and Sugar 

 Corn have 'to be covered lighter and more carefully than Marrowfat 

 Peas or the common varieties of Corn. It depends upon the nature of 

 the soil, season of the year, etc. For instance, in heavy wet soil seeds 

 have to be covered lighter than in sandy light ground. Seeds which 

 are sown during summer in the open ground, such as Beets and Carrots, 

 should be soaked over night in water and rolled in ashes or plaster 

 before sowing ; they will come up quicker. When they are sown in a 

 seed bed, the ground should be light enough not t-o bake after a rain. 

 Some varieties of seeds require shade when sown during the Summer, 

 such as Cauliflower, Celen,- and Lettuce. Care should be taken to have 

 the shade at least three feet from the ground, and shade only after the 

 sun has been on the bed for two or three hours, and remove again early 

 in the afternoon, so the plants may become sturdy ; if too much shaded 

 they will be drawn up, long legged and not fit to be set out in the open 

 ground. The most successful cabbage planters in this neighborhood 

 sow their seed in the open ground, toward the end of July and during 

 August, and give them no shade, but water, and keep the ground moist 

 from the day of sowing till the plants are transplanted. Seed should 

 be sown thinly in the seed bed ; if plants come up too thickly they are 

 apt to damp off. 



Lettuce seed should be sprouted during the hot months, before 

 sowing, according to directions given for June. 



To sow Turnips on a large scale during late summer and early fall 

 months, the ground should be prepared in advance, and the seed sown 

 just before or during a rain. Small pieces of ground, of course, can be 

 sown at any time and watered afterwards. For covering all kinds of 

 seeds a fork is preferable to a rake ; with either implement care must 

 be taken not to cover the seeds too deep. Beans, Peas and Corn are 

 covered with the hoe. Some fine seeds, such as Thyme or Tobacco, 

 are covered enough when pressed with the back of the spade to the 

 ground. The seedsman is often blamed for selling seeds, which have 

 not come up, when the same are perfectly good, but perhaps through 

 ignorance, the party, by whom they were sown, placed them too deep, 

 or too shallow in the ground ; or the ground may have been just moist 

 enough to swell the seeds, and they failed to come up. At other times 

 washing rains after sowing beat the ground and form a crust that the 

 seeds are not able to penetrate ; or if there is too much fresh manure 

 in the ground, it will burn the seed, and destroy its vitality. 



Where seeds, such as Beans, Cucumbers, Melons and Squash, are 

 planted before it is warm enough, they are very apt to rot if it rains. 



