CARTER AND CO.’S GARDENER’S VADE MECUM FOR 18G2. 
97 
soil, in proportion to the demand made on them by a 
largo crop, but they are not more essential than the other 
elements of the growing plants also present in most ma- 
nures. The fact is, that the element present in the 
smallest quantity (in minimo) rules the growth of the 
crops, and the supply of it, whatever it may be, is there- 
fore the most needed and most efficient on the growth of 
the crop ; and as phosphoric acid and ammonia are prac- 
tically, in general, the bodies present in minimo in the soil, 
their addition in the manure is most generally sought after. 
And so guano, superphosphate, &c., are estimated according 
to the quantity of these ingredients which they contain. 
The ammonia present in them is generally valued at £50 
to £00 a ton, the natural phosphate at £ 7 or £8 a ton, 
the soluble phosphate at £25 to £30 a ton ; and so their 
value comes out at £13 to £14 a ton for good guano, and 
£6 to £8 for good superphosphate. 
FEBR 
The liorsc-labour of this month includes the conclusion of \ 
and Peas, and putting in the seed. Parsnip may be sown n< 
Autumn. Land may be ploughed for the earlier-sown grcc 
carting of grain to market, and of food, and seeds, and manur 
field cultivation cannot proceed. 
The hand-labour of the month includes seed operations ai 
work in moving manures, barn -work, attendance on the live st 
Purchase of Seeds. — All spring-sown seeds may as 
well be purchased now. Turnips, about 3 lbs. per acre ; 
Mangold Wurzel, about 4 to 0 lbs. per acre ; Carrots, 
Parsnip, about 7 lbs. per acre each ; Kohl Rabi, 4 lbs. per 
acre, if at once drilled in rows, or 1 lb. an acre if sown in a 
bed and transplanted; Cabbages about the same, to bo 
sown in a bed and transplanted; Clover, 12 to 18 lbs. 
per acre ; Grasses, 2 to 3 bushels per acre, arc the usual 
quantities, if special care is deemed desirable, procure 
small samples and sow them in flower-pots, and so .judge 
of the vitality of what you purchase. When seeds are 
dear, the result is caused through the total or partial failure 
of the past season’s seed crops, and in consequence the 
germinating powers are not on the average so good as 
may be expected in favourable seasons, but still, if un- 
adulterated, THEY ARE MORE THAN SUFFICIENT TO ENSURE 
A GOOD CROC. 
The purchaser cannot be too careful where he deals, 
because it is well known that when the supply is scarcely 
sufficient to meet the demand, dishonest dealers will bo 
found who will adulterate the seeds for thepiu’pose of being 
able to undersell those of the Trade who do not resort to 
these practices. 
Therefore it specially behoves the purchaser to give a 
fair value for the seeds he requires, and to deal with a 
Seedsman of established reputation. 
The Culture of the Parsnip. — Parsnips grow best 
on deep loamy soils. This crop should come after a Grain 
crop, — the stubble being well cleaned in Autumn, and 
deeply ploughed, ana well manured then. Tn February, 
harrow down the land, and sow the seed 7 lbs. per acre, 
mixed with two bushels of sand, and sown by the Suffolk 
drill, in rows about 15 inches apart. The large Jersey 
Parsnip is the best variety of Cattle Parsnip, and there is 
no better food to steam and mingle with hay-chaff for a 
winter cow or for pigs. Eight to twelve tons are obtainable 
per acre; they are forked up in November, and may bo 
pitted like potatoes. They should be singled out and kept 
clean by the hand-hoe during Summer, being left at in- 
tervals of about 6 inches to the row. If the land is full of 
small weeds it may be well to sow a few Turnip-seeds or 
Barley-seeds with the Parsnip-seed, which, springing first, 
will show the position of the future row, and so enable 
an earlier hoeing of the land. Carrots are, however, in 
general preferable as a farm crop to Parsnips, involving 
Guano is used for all sorts of crops ; chiefly grain crops, 
however, in England, where superphosphate is chiefly used 
for Turnips, its weight per bushel is a fair test of its 
purity, if it exceeds 70 lbs a bushel, it is generally 
adulterated, the things used for tliis purpose, loam, Ac., 
being heavier than the natural manure. Put for the 
tests of purity of the several fertilizers of the market, we 
must refer the reader to the agricultural chemist. Ilis 
safety is to be secured (1) by dealing with men of estab- 
lished reputation as manure merchants, (2) by retaining a 
sealed and authenticated sample of the article bought, for 
analysis, if the result of its application be suspicious, and 
(3) by sending this sample for analysis to some chemist, 
whose report would lead a jury to justify a claim for 
damages in case the crop has failed, because the manure 
was not what it was declared to be. 
UARY. 
heat-sowing (see October), and preparation of land for Beans 
>w on land properly tilled, deeply cultivated, and manured in 
n -crops, if it was not prepared for them in Autumn. The 
o for market, also of manure to Helds, continues at times when 
id preparations for the sowing of the crops already named ; 
ock of the farm. 
less labour and annoyance, and yielding a crop, which, 
if it bo not quite so good a food per ton, is a better crop 
per acre. 
Cultivation of the Bean. — It grows best on what 
may be still called Wheat soils. Though Wheat is now 
grown everywhere, Wheat and Bean soils are the stiffer 
class of soils ; though, as Wheat is now grown on light 
land, so Beans, also, and Winter Beans especially, are 
cultivable on sandy land. Among the sorts are the* com- 
mon Scotch — hardy, prolific, long-s( rawed, and weighing 
about GOO to the lb. ; the Common Tick, shorter strawed, 
and not so large, about 900 grains per lb. ; the Heligoland, 
hardy, earlier than the Scotch, a small round seed, 1200 
per lb. ; the Winter Field Bean, the hardiest of any, as 
small as the last, but not so round, earliest at harvest time, 
and so, least liable to be attacked by the black plant-louse, 
of very short straw, and heavier per bushel than any other 
sort, sometimes, indeed, weighing 70 lbs. per bushel. There 
are many long-podded Beans which are adapted for field 
as well as garden, and have larger grains, but are less 
hardy. Winter Beans may be sown in October, on a 
Wheat stubble, pared and cleaned, grubbed or scarified, 
manured with 20 or 30 cubic yards of dung per acre, 
spread and ploughed in ; and the land, being well har- 
rowed, receives the seed, 2 bushels per acre, by means of 
the Suffolk drill, sown in rows 18 or 24 inches apart, so as 
to allow' of horse-lioeing in the Spring. The levers of the 
drill should be heavily weighted, so as to bury the seed 
thoroughly. The plants come up before Winter, stand 
the frost well, arc horse- and hand-hoed in Spring, come 
to flower in May, and to maturity generally by the end of 
July, in time to enable a tolerably efficient cultivation of 
the land before Wheat is sown upon it, 
The cultivation of Spring-sown Beans may be the same 
as this, allowing for the ditferent seed-time ; or they may 
be sown above the manure, in drills 2 feet wide, very much 
as Potatoes are planted, being afterwards horse-hoed and 
cultivated like the Winter sort ; or they may bo ploughed 
in, being sown by the Bean harrow in every second or 
third furrow, as the* manure is being ploughed under. 
The quantity of seed may be from 2 to 3 bushels per acre, 
according to the size of the seed and the width of the rows. 
The best seed-time is the earliest Spring-time, when the land 
is fit for cultivation ; the crop may be from 30 to 40 bushels 
per acre. The harvesting is by means of a heavy hook or 
