The Locust. 



or very late in March ; because, by soaking they are made 

 to come up in the space of a fortnight, and they should not 

 come up, till the sharp frosts be all gone. But, when seeds 

 have been soaked in this manner there is great care re- 

 quired, to keep them from the sun and the wind : they 

 should therefore be covered as quickly as possible after they 

 have been scattered on the bed, and the earth that goes on 

 them should be made very fine. The covering must not be 

 more than an inch deep, and must be laid on very evenly, 

 and with the greatest possible care, so that no open- 

 ings may be left, for the sun or wind to find access through. 

 If the weather be dry, as it ought to be for the work of 

 sowing, water the beds gently, with a fine-rose watering- 

 pot, the second day after sowing ; but not by any means 

 while the earth is fresh at top; for if earth be freshly 

 moved when you water, it runs together, and binds over 

 the top, where it forms a shell, which is difficult for the 

 heads of the plants to penetrate. Last spring, I had several 

 beds of various seeds which failed, but 1 wished to wait, 

 as late as I possibly could, to give the seeds a chance to 

 come up. In the middle of June, or thereabouts, seeing that 

 the seeds would not come up in these beds, and not liking to 

 let them remain all the summer without a crop, I deter- 

 mined, late as the season was, to sow them with Locusts, 

 which I did in my usual manner ; but, the weather being 

 dry and hot, I not only watered the beds very well, the day 

 after the seeds were sown, but kept them sheltered from 

 the sun by mats, until the seeds began to come up. I never 

 had so regular and so perfect beds of LocusT-plants before. 

 They were upon an average a foot and a half high in the 

 month of October, and nine-tenths of them might have 

 gone out into plantations at once. 



387. Such very late sowing, is not, however, to be at- 



