136 
GARDENING AND FARMING 
always of service, though few can be induced 
to drain, unless they have the inconvenience 
of wet on the surface, and so many things 
press more. This is a matter which we do 
not interfere with ; money and labour may be 
too scarce to throw away, or rather we ought 
to say to expend, on what does not really 
press. But let no one for an instant suppose 
that draining does no good to land that lies 
very sloping ; they might have furrows on 
their surface, to run off the rains, but these 
do not avail the soil below ; ground on the 
side of a hill is more likely to deceive us than 
any other. But if for no other purpose, we 
ought to drain to get the waters together ; 
and the more scarce water is, the more we 
should be induced to drain, to get the supply 
in one, and that the most convenient spot. 
In returning the soil over the drains, it will be 
found that a good deal cannot be pressed in; 
first, because there is a part hollow and there- 
fore the soil which originally filled the hollow 
place is now surplus, and secondly, because 
having been loosened it does not lay so close. 
This surplus must for the present form a 
ridge along all the drains, but in a season or 
two it will subside a good deal, and may be 
spread right and left to make all quite level. 
i> HOW TO APPROPRIATE THE LAND. 
Whatever will keep best, may be most 
esteemed for general cultivation ; therefore, 
grain of all sorts, maize, peas, beans, millet, 
and whatever else may be used in the seed 
state, may be grown somewhat largely. In 
Canada, New Zealand, and other cold or 
moderate climates, there is but one complete 
season of any thing. In more tropical regions 
there may be two or even three seasons of 
grain in a year ; vegetation is rapid, and the 
sun ripens everything very fast. But there 
are many circumstances that operate to vary 
the times of sowing. The crop that is greatly 
relied on in warm climates is maize or Indian 
corn ; this in cold climates should be raised 
in a hot-bed. and planted out when the frost 
breaks up, but in warmer countries it may be 
dibbled into the ground from one to two 
inches deep, and well rolled in. This crop 
is excellent for all animals that will eat it, but it 
should be always ground into coarse meal, or 
boiled, for stock of any kind ; and when 
boiled, the liquor is excellent for pigs. Besides 
this, the Indian corn is an article of commerce, 
and is getting into use in countries where 
they do not grow it ; in fact, it may now be 
placed among bread-stuffs, and is by no means 
an ineligible article for exportation. Wheat, 
barley, oats, rye, hemp, flax, tares, peas, beans, 
and seeds of every kind that can be consumed 
dry or may be exported easily, may be grown 
wifh advantage, but those are best which 
serve for the food of man ; and at least 
enough for one's own consumption should 
be grown of several kinds. Peas and French 
or haricot beans should be grown rather 
plentifully, not with a view of indulging in 
green vegetables so much as for a good stock 
of seed to lay by ; for if wheat, barley, and oats 
fail, a man will not starve if he has peas and 
beans in store. In short, we know of nothing 
after wheat that is equal to peas and haricot 
beans for usefulness as winter food. Every- 
body knows what excellent soup the pea will 
make with the aid of a little meat; but every- 
body does not know what an acceptable food 
the haricot bean is when simply soaked twenty- 
four hours in plain water, and then boiled 
with a little salt in the water until it is 
tender. The best bean for this is the large 
white kidney, both for appearance and flavour, 
although the black, the dun, and other French 
beans make a very good substitute ; but the 
white is the seed to take out. Wheat is, how- 
ever, a very safe crop in most cases, and 
especially in warm countries, because it is so 
short a time in the ground, so that it is 
desirable on every account to sow a reason- 
able quantity. In Canada, where the winters 
are hard, spring sowing is the best, if not the 
only way to succeed well ; for although the 
winter is sharper and less changeable, the 
summer is more certain. With regard to the 
seasons for sowing and doing the farming and 
gardening operations, they differ in different 
places and climates, and it is impossible for a 
man to pass into the interior without seeing 
all the way he goes the state of the crops, and 
learning, by the most brief and simple inquiries, 
the periods of sowing, which might be all 
learned and memorandums made at the very 
first stopping place. The principles of farm- 
ing being understood, those points which 
depend on climate are easily acquired in a 
short time. 
The method of sowing all these seeds 
depends on the materials and implements you 
can command. As it is not very likely you can 
command drilling machines or dibbling ma- 
chines, you must be content to sow broad- 
cast, which is, sprinkling the seed all over the 
ground as evenly as you can ; but with regard 
to peas and beans, drills should be drawn 
with the plough, or if the space be small, by 
hand with the hoe, and the individual seeds 
be dropped into the drills at such distances as 
the sort demands. As in warm countries the 
growth is very rapid, it is well to confine the 
peas to dwarf sorts, and if these are two 
inches apart in single rows two feet from each 
other, the crop will be full enough. Beans 
of all sorts will do better six inches apart, and 
the rows two feet asunder ; there is then 
room to hoe and earth up, either by hand or 
