DREER S GARDEN CALENDAR. 



Bemarks on the Failure of Seeds, 



'■^ From a conviction that the Seedsman's fair reputation is otte© 

 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 Phila- 

 delphia, 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 

 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 vari- 

 ableness of the weather, and some are liable to be devoured b}^ insects 

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

 above ground, unless a suitable remedy is applied in time to annoy 

 the insects. 



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

 Parsnip, Spinach, &c., 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 deeply 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." 



For instructions on these and any other subjects of Gardening, the 

 reader is referred to "Bridgeman's American Gardener's Assistant," 

 or "Burr's Garden Vegetables." 



Extract. — "Some Gardeners raise Egg Plants, &c., in the same hot- 

 bed frame with Cabbage, and such other half hardy plants as require 

 air every mild day ; by such management one or the other must suffer 

 for want of suitable aliment — heat being the principal food of tender 

 plants, and air that of the more hardy species. 



