DREER S GARDEN CALENDAR. 



Remarks on the Failure of Seeds. 



" From a conviction that the Seedsman's fair reputation is often 

 unjustly defamed, through the failure of seeds, we would with brevity 

 state some of the causes : 



"1. That some cultivators, through ignorance or forgetfulness of the 

 fact, that the products of a garden being natives of various soils and 

 climates, require peculiar management, deposit their seeds in the 

 ground at an improper season. To aid such, we have prepared brief 

 directions, founded on practical experience in the vicinity of Philadel- 

 phia, where gardening operations are generally commenced early in 

 March. These directions may, however, be applied to all other parts 

 of the United States, by a minute observance of the difference in 

 temperature. 



"Thus, to the North, the directions for March will apply to April; 

 and at the South, to January, February, or whatever season gardening 

 operations may commence in the respective States. The early and 

 most hardy species and varieties should not be planted until the ground 

 can be brought into good condition, as some species of plants that in 

 an advanced stage of growth will stand a hard winter, are often cut 

 off by a very slight frost while young, especially if exposed to the 

 heat of the sun after a frosty night. 



"2. That some species of Seeds, such as Beans, Beet, Cabbage, 

 Lettuce, Radish, Salsify, Turnip, &c, being from their nature, apt to 

 vegetate quickly, are often destroyed while germinating, through 

 variableness of the weather, and some are liable to be devoured by 

 insects in forty-eight hours after they are sown, and before a plant is 

 seen above ground, unless a suitable remedy be applied in due time to 

 annoy the insects. 



" 3. That some species, as Carrot, Celery, Leek, Onion, Parsley, 

 Parsnip. Spinach, &o., being naturally of tardy growth, taking (in 

 unfavorable seasons) from two to three or four weeks to vegetate, are 

 apt to perish through incrustation of the soil, or other untoward and 

 unaccountable circumstances, which cannot always be controlled. 



"4. That the failures often occur through Seeds being deposited too 

 deep in the ground, or left too near the surface. Sometimes, for want 

 of sufficiency of Seed in a given spot, solitary plants will perish, they 

 not having sufficient strength to open the pores of the earth, and very 

 frequently injudicious management in manuring and preparing the soil 

 will cause defeat." 



