1801 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. • 
tation possible, experiment end learn how the 
change can be produced. It will then be easy 
to repeat the experiment under circumstances 
which will leave no doubt. If any one succeeds 
in conclusively proving to the world that wheat 
will turn into chess, he will not only receive the 
reward offered, for his labor, but his name will 
become famous. He will upset one of the laws 
assigned to nature, and held to be immutable, 
by all scientific naturalists. 
For the American Agriculturist, 
Tim Eunker on Seed. 
“ Where you get de seed of deni big beets you 
raise last year, Masga Bunker ?” said Jim Baker 
to me this morning. “ Never seed sicli beets 
down South hi all my life. Reckon dey come 
from Africa, or somewhere dey git up airly in 
de morning.” 
“ No, Jim, I got them from New-York, where 
they lie abed badly in the morning, I am sorry 
to say. Half of them don’t get their breakfast 
till nine o’clock.” 
“ Can’t be, Massa. Must have come from some 
place close by sunrise, or dey never growed so 
big. I watch ’em last Summer, and I declare 
fur sartin, I tho’t dey never would stop growin.” 
Jim Baker, though he has been with us but 
two or three years, is one of the institutions of 
Hookertown, as much so as Mr. Spooner, or the 
school master. He was liberated by his master, 
a few years ago, with all the rest of the negroeg 
upon the estate, and sent out to Liberia. He 
had made himself useful upon the plantation as 
cooper, in preparing sugar and molasses casks. 
He went out to Liberia, with rather elevated 
notions of that land of promise, and of the free¬ 
dom he was there to enjoy. Feeling rather 
above digging for a living, and not finding much 
demand for a cooper’s labors in that new coun¬ 
try, he became homesick, and took the first ves¬ 
sel bound for the States. Some of his shipmates 
hailed from this place, and Jim brought up here, 
and considers himself settled for life. He takes 
naturally to gardening, and often excites the 
envy of Jake Frink, by beating him on garden 
sauce, and a rude kind of joking, which Jake 
calls “ sassy." Jim takes note of all the best 
gardens, as he goes round doing odd jobs among 
the villagers, and is an appreciative beggar of 
good seeds. He turns up the white of his eyes 
at an extra sized patch of onions, and if he can 
not get a dozen of the bulbs to set out, he wants 
just a pinch of the seed to plant. With his hat 
under his arm, and that deferential air which 
marks the well bred servant, he is pretty sure to 
get what he wants. “ Nebber could see Massa 
Bunker, what’s the use planting poor seed. Sar¬ 
tin to git jest what you plant.” 
Jim’s philosophy, and Jake Frink’s, do not be¬ 
long to the same school. Jake thinks a seed is 
a seed, just as a cow is a cow, whether she is a 
skeleton, or have five hundred weight of beef 
laid in between her skin and bones. Jake has 
no idea but what old seeds are just as good as 
any, and so he keeps his old stock on hand 
from year to year. He has an old basket in his 
pantry for this purpose, and there you will find 
seeds of the cucumber, squash, pepper, corn, 
beaus, onion, cabbage, turnip, nasturtium, and 
a little of every thing else that ever grew in his 
garden. They have no labels, and there is no 
means of ascertaining the age of any package in 
the basket. Some he has begged, a few he has 
bought, but the most he has raised upon his 
own premises in that slipshod way that marks 
every thing about the establishment, and which 
has long since passed into a proverb. If you 
were to say a thing looked frinliy, every man in 
Hookertown would know just what you meant. 
The last three or four cabbage stumps, or tur¬ 
nips, he happens to have left in the Spring, are 
set out without any regard to quality or variety. 
So his cabbage is neither early York, nor Drum¬ 
head, Red Dutch, nor Savoy, but a mongrel 
stock, showing streaks of every thing he has 
raised. His turnips and other tap-roots follow 
the same law, for they have all been cultivated 
upon the same system. Jake has no idea of the 
mixing of varieties iii the blossom, or of their 
running down by bad cultivation. 
With Jim Baker, a seed is not a seed. “ Tell 
you what Massa Bunker, every ting ’pends on 
what you plant. Iniquities of de Aiders visited 
on de children, and no mistake.” Jim lives up 
to his philosophy, as a good many people who 
talk more, do not. The best beets arc selected, 
and planted in good rich soil, and the seeds are 
carefully labeled and put away where they can 
be found in planting time. Dinah clean 0 out 
the old basket every Fall, and nothing but the 
seeds of the squashes, and other vines, are al¬ 
lowed to remain over a' second year. 
I raise but few seeds myself, because I have 
found it better economy to buy such as I want 
at the large agricultural warehouses in the city. 
As a rule, the men who devote their time to 
raising seeds, will get abetter article than those 
who have other business constantly upon their 
hands. 'Their success in business depends upon 
their fidelity, and they are generally careful to 
give the public a good article. Well established 
firms in the city have extensive arrangements 
with seed growers in all parts of this country 
and of Europe, to furnish the best articles in 
their respective lines of business. If I want 
twenty varieties of garden seeds, it is much less 
trouble to send an order for them by express, 
than it is to try to raise them, and take care of 
them. 
This month I always lay in my stock of seeds, 
the best varieties, and enough of them. I know 
just how much ground I am goifig to plant in 
each crop, and can tell within a few ounces of 
the quantity I shall need of each variety. If it 
is put off till planting time, when every thing is 
in a hurry, the best time for planting often goes 
by before you are ready, and you get only a par¬ 
tial crop. The best investments I have ever 
made in a small way, have been in this article. 
Take particular notice. Never buy cheap seed. 
Yours to command, 
Timothy Bunkef., Esq. 
Hookertown, Feb., 1861. 
*--->< *--► -6*-- 
Hints on Starting Garden Plants Early in 
Spring. 
Various methods may be resorted to for pro¬ 
curing early vegetables and flowers, in all cli¬ 
mates, and especially in the qplder regions of the 
most Northern States, and of the British Prov¬ 
inces, as well as for securing the growth of those 
plants which will not ordinarily mature where 
the season is very short. Green-houses, hot¬ 
beds, and cold frames, are the most desirable, 
and these are destined to come into more exten¬ 
sive use,, when people generally learn how sim¬ 
ple, cheap, and valuable they are. Of these we 
speak from time to time; here we will only re¬ 
fer to one or two-methods that may be adopted 
by all. 
First, let it be remembered, that a soil deeply 
dug and thoroughly drained, is in a condition to 
receive seeds or plants much earlier than an ordi¬ 
nary soil, no matter how dry it may bo. A free 
admixture of fermenting manure, like that from 
the horse stable, also tends to warm the soil. 
The smaller seeds, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflow¬ 
er, turnips, tomatoes, many of the flower seeds, 
etc., may well be sown in cheap earthen pots, 
or in boxes of earth. These boxes, if water¬ 
tight, should have gimlet holes in the bottom to 
drain off excess of water; an over dose of wa¬ 
ter with no drainage, will often stop or greatly 
retard th.e growth. Though not indispensable, 
it is always preferable to water at the bottom, 
letting only so much soak in as will naturally 
rise by capillary attraction. While the weath¬ 
er remains cold during the day, these boxes or 
pots may be kept in a warm- light cellar, or bet¬ 
ter still, in a room slightly warmed by fire heat. 
But as soon as the out-door temperature during 
the day is above the freezing point, they should 
be left out in the sun, and only be brought in at 
night when there is a prospect of frost. It an¬ 
swers very well to leave them on the South side' 
of a barn during the day, and remove them to 
the barn floor at night, covering with straw if 
needed to keep out frost. By a very little care 
of this kind any one may have an abundant 
supply of plants, ready to be transferred to the 
open ground when danger of frost is past. 
Another method which has been highly com¬ 
mended by some, is this: Cut turf or grass sods 
into square blocks, or in long pieces ; if grass 
sods, pare off a little of the grass side. Invert 
the pieces and plant in them various seeds, such 
as cabbage, lettuce, cucumbers, melons, corn, 
turnips, radishes, indeed any thing which is de¬ 
sired to grow early. These can be laid closely 
together on the south side of the house, or barn, 
taking care to apply, from time to time, just m 
ter enough to keep them barely moist. On cold 
nights they can be covered with old carpeting, 
or blankets, and straw, until the plants begin to 
appear, after which the pieces should be tempo¬ 
rarily removed to the cellar whenever there is 
danger of frost. As soon as the condition of 
the soil and weather renders it safe, the sods or 
turf may be cut into small pieces, each one con¬ 
taining one or more growing plants, and. then 
set them into the open ground. There is a double 
advantage in this process: a gain of one to three 
weeks in time is secured, and the sod or turf is 
an excellent material for promoting future 
growth and fertility. Any one who will try this 
method for a single season, will not be likely to 
omit it afterwards. Three or four hours of time 
expended in this way, will secure a considerable 
supply of extra early products of various kinds. 
Those who have a few old baskets will find 
the following plan a good one: Put into the 
baskets a quantity of good soil, with rotten 
chips, with or without some well rotted manure, 
as may be needed by the soil used. Plant in 
each basket a few melon, cucumber, squash, or 
pumpkin seeds. The baskets can be carried in 
or out according to the state of the weather. 
After the plsnts are in vigorous growth, and the 
weather suitable, set the baskets in the soil, one 
in a bill, without disturbing the contents. If 
the sides and bottoms of the baskets be not 
pretty open, a number of holes should be punch¬ 
ed through. The roots will find their way out 
into the surrounding soil. By starting early, so 
as to have large vigorous plants growing in the 
baskets of earth by the time the weather is set¬ 
tled, you may have cucumbers ready for the 
table almost as soon as other people have plants 
coming up, and melons and other products pro 
portionately early. 
