D. M. FERRY & GO'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE 



THE ESSENTIALS TO 

 THE PRODUCTION OF -' 



Good . . . 

 Vegetables 



and 



Beautiful 

 flowers 



Good Soil 



A rich sandy loam 



isthebest.buta fair 

 degree of success ma}- be secured 

 from any soil which can be made rich 

 and friable. Vegetables of the best 

 quality cannot be grown on barren 

 sand, a cold. hard, lumpy clay, nor in 

 the shade of orchard or other trees. 



Liberal Manuring . . . 



A soil which does not need enriching 

 in order to produce the best results 

 is rarely found, and ver3' often suc- 

 cess is in proportion to the liberality 

 with which fertilizers have been used. 

 "Well decomposed stable manure 

 where straw beddinjr has been used 

 is the best; that where sawdust is used 

 is not so good. Often wood ashes at 

 the rate of one peck up to one bushel 

 to the square rod will be of great 

 benefit. Commercial fertilizers are 

 excellent, and ma.v be used at the 

 rate of 4 to 12 pounds to the square 

 rod, and the more concentrated 

 forms, such as Nitrate of Soda, 

 Guano. Dried Blood and Potash Salts, 

 at the rate of one to six pounds to the rod. A mass or lump 

 of any of the commercial fertilizers, even if it is but a quarter 

 of an inch in diameter, is liable to kill anv seed or vounj; plant 

 which comes in contact with it. so it Is very important if 

 such fertilizers be used that they be thoroughly pulverized 

 and mi.xed with the soil. 



soil and liberal ma- 

 mring- will avail little with- 

 out thorough preparation. The soil must be made friable by 

 thorough and judicious working: if this is well done all that 

 follows will be easy: if it is neglected, onlv partial success is 

 possible, and that at the cost of a great deal of hard work. 

 The garden should be well plowed or dug to a good depth, 

 taking care, if it is a clay soil, that the work is not done when 

 it is too wet. If a handful from the furrow moulds with slight 

 pressure into a ball which cannot be easilv crumbled into fine 

 earth again, the soil is too wet. and if stirred then will be 

 hard to work all summer. The surface should be made as 

 fine and smooth as possible with the harrow or rake. It is 

 generally necessary to plow the whole garden at once, and to 

 do this m time for the earliest crops, but the part which is 

 not planted for some weeks should be kept mello%v by fre- 

 quent cultivation. 



Good Sc^ds There is no more prolific source of 



v/\* ov^vij . . . disappointment and failure among 

 Prftn<>rlv Pl;)nfpr1 amateurgardenersthanhastv.care- 

 rixjy^liy riailL«:u less or improper sowing of the seed. 

 A seed consists of a minute plant minus the root with a suffi- 

 cient amount of food stowed in or around it to sustain it until 

 It can expand its leaves, form roots and provide for itself, the 

 whole enclosed in a hard and more or less impervious shell 

 To secure germination, moisture, heat, and a certain amount 

 of air are necessary. The first steps are the softening of the 

 hard, outer shell, and the leaves of the plant from the 

 absorption of water, and the changing of the plant food 

 from the form of starch to that of sugar. In the first con- 



Our Seed Warehouse 



85 X 1 40 Feet. 



Thorough Preparation S 



dition the food is ea.sily preserved unchanged, but the plant 

 cannot use it. While in its sugary condition it is easily 

 appropriated but perishable, and if not used it speedily de- 

 cays itself and induces decaj' in the plant. A dry seed may 

 retain its vitality and remain unchanged for years, but after 

 germination has commenced, a check of a day or two in the 

 process may be fatal. There is no time in the life of a plant 

 when it is so susceptible of fatal injury, from the over-abund- 

 ance or want of sufficient heat and moisture, as at that be- 

 tween the commencement of germination and the formation 

 of the first true leaves, and it is just then that it needs the aid 

 of a gardener to secure favorable conditions. These are: 



First— A proper and constant degree of moisture. The soil 

 should always be moist, never wet. This is secured by mak- 

 ingr the surface of freshly dug soil so fine and the pressing it 

 over the seeds so firmly with the feet or the back of the hoe, 

 that tlie degree of moisture remains as nearly uniform as pos- 

 sible. 



Second— A proper degree of heat, secured by sowing the 

 seed when the temperature of the soil is that most favorable 

 to the germination of the seed of that particular plant. Too 

 high a temperature is often as detrimental as one too low. 

 The proper temperature for each sort may be learned from 

 a careful study of the following pages and the experience of 

 the most successful gardeners in your vicinity. 



Third— Covering the seed to such a depth that while a uni- 

 form degree of heat and moisture is preserved, the neces-sary 

 air can readily reach the germinating seed, and the tiny stem 

 push the formintr leaves into the liyrht and air. This depth 

 will vary with different .seeds and conditions of the soil: and 

 can be learned only from practical experience. In general, 

 seeds of the size of the turnip should not be coveivd with 

 more than half an inch of earth pressed down, while com 

 may be an inch, beans an inch to two inches, and peas one to 

 three inches deep. 



