PETE?, HENDERSON & CO.'S CATALOGUE OF SEEDS. 47 



Vegetable Seedi. 



HOW, WHEN, AND WHERE TO SOW. 



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

 CJL S seed-sowing is the starting point of cropping, a thorough, knowledge of the con- 



ditions necessary 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 often the failure is not with the seeds, hut 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 hot-hed, if he has 

 one, often as early as the first week in Fehruary (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 hot-bed, where a thermometer would possibly not indicate more than 

 fifty degrees, 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 vegetate, 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 worsej 

 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 hot-bed; it is 

 now a month later, and a bright March sun, with milder nights, give him the proper 

 temperature in his hot-bed — 70 or 80 degrees— and his eyes are at last gladdened by the 

 sprouting of the troublesome seed. April comes with warm sunshine, inviting him to 

 begin to "make garden" outside. He has yet the balance of the original Jot of seeds 

 that he bought in February. But as he is still entirely befogged about the cause of 

 his failure in the first hot-bed, he begins to open ground operations with little confidence 

 in his seeds, but as he has got them, they may as well be tried ; and again he sows in the 

 same day, his Peas and Lima Beans, Eadishes and Pumpkins, Onions and Sweet Coin. 

 Hardy and tender get the same treatment. The result must of necessity be the same as 

 it was in the hot-bed, 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 and 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 of seeds of the leading kinds will behest understood by the tabular form 

 given below : 



Vegetable seeds that may be sown in this lati- I Vegetable seeds that may be sown in the open 

 tude, from the middle of March to the end of April, I ground in this latitude, from the middle of May to 

 thermometer in the shade averaging 45 degrees. j the middle of June, thermometer in the shade 



Beet, Lettuce, 1 averaging GO degrees. 



Lima Beans. Water Melon, 



Carrot, Parsley 



Cress, Parsnip, 



Celery, Onions, 



Cabbage, Peas, 



Cauliflower, Radish, 



Endive, Turnip, 



Kale, Spinach. 



Bush Beans, Okra. 



Pole Beans, Pumpkins, 



Sweet Corn, Tomato, 



Cucumber, Squash, 



Musk Melon, Nasturtium. 



