Dreer^s Garden Calendar, 



REMARKS ON THE FAILURE OF SEEDS. 



ROM 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 diflereuce in tem- 

 perature. 



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

 at the South, to January, February or whatever season gardening opera- 

 tions 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 ad- 

 vanced stage of growth will stand a hard Avinter, are often cut off by a 

 very slight frost while young, e^ecially 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 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 is applied in time to annoy the insects. 



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

 snip, Spinach, &c., being naturally of tardy growth, taking (in unfavora- 

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

 perish through incrustation of the soil, or other untoAvard and unac- 

 countable 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 ''American Gardener's Assistant," or " Burr's Gar- 

 den Vegetables." The price of these books will be found on page 119. 



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. 



