5$ 



ON THE MANAGEMENT 



For this purpose, let small pots be filled with very 

 light, rich, sandy mould ; into each pot put eight 

 or ten seeds ; lay them at regular distances, and 

 press them into the mould with your finger to the 

 depth of half an inch ; then fill up the holes, and 

 make the surface of the mould smooth and even. 



The pots should be plunged either in the tan- 

 bed in the hot-house, or in a temperate hot-bed, 

 for a moderate warmth will, at that season of the 

 year, soon cause the seed to vegetate. As soon as 

 the plants appear, they will require, from time to 

 time, gentle sprinklings of water ; but this must be 

 given them very sparingly, especially during the 



I take it for granted, that the health, strength, vigour, and 

 longevity of a plant (perhaps, too, the same may be said of 

 man) depends greatly on its good beginning. This remark may 

 be deemed worthy the farmer's observation, as it will show the 

 importance and necessity of fixing upon a proper seed-time. 



As the sun's annual course is always the same, it necessarily 

 follows, that the seasons of a hot-house, where the air is con- 

 fined, must be nearly so too. But in the open air the case is 

 very different, and we find, by experience, that there are many 

 weeks difference in vegetation, according to the lateness or for- 

 wardness of the spring. Hence no fixed time can, with pro- 

 priety, be ascertained for sowing the spring corn and grass seeds ; 

 but nature's signs will be the farmer's surest guide. The leafing 

 of trees, the state of the ground, and the weather, will, if well 

 observed, afford the best directions to the farmer in this im- 

 portant business. 



There are certain critical seasons in the spring, when all nature 

 seems combined to promote vegetation ; when the very air is 

 big with impregnation, and the earth swells, as wishing for the 

 descending shower. \ 



