I 860 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
69 
Duration of Vitality in Seeds. 
That some seeds, under accidental circum¬ 
stances, have an almost indefinite period of vital¬ 
ity, is evident from the fact that grains of wheat, 
taken from the hands or the wrapping of Egyptian 
mummies, several thousand years old, have veg¬ 
etated during the present century. But such 
things are exceptions to the general rule. How 
then may we ascertain with considerable certain¬ 
ty whether the seeds we purchase are worth the 
money 1 Many experiments have been tried, and 
reports made, but not always with great accuracy. 
The following account is the most reliable, we 
can present. It is understood of course, that the 
seeds are kept under good circumstances—never 
in a hot, damp atmosphere. 
Cabbage seeds, cauliflow'er, broccoli and savoy 
—good for four years. 
Lettuce, spinach, carrots, radish, onions, pars- 
neps, peas, be^ffis and other leguminous plants— 
good for one or two years. 
Beets, celery, cucumbers, melons, squash, 
pumpkins, gourds and the like—good for ten and 
more years. 
Turnips, mustard, endive, sea-kale, asparagus 
—good for three or lour years. 
Tree-seeds—not to be depended on after the 
second year. 
Oats, wheat and barley—good for three or 
four years. 
Annual and perennial flower-seeds—good for 
two or three years. 
Melon seeds have been known to vegetate when 
forty years old. Some careful gardeners prefer 
old seeds of the cucumber and melon tribe, be¬ 
cause they think that new and plump seeds pro¬ 
duce plants which make a rampant growth of 
vine, but bear little fruit, and that late in the 
season. 
Rye has been known to vegetate w'hen forty 
years old ; kidney-beans, when one hundred ; and 
raspberries when sixteen hundred (?); the Sensi¬ 
tive plant when sixty years old. 
And here, a word upon seed-saving. It is of the 
g' eatest importance for the farmer and gardener 
to do this work well, as upon it his success 
greatly depends. It is with this, as with the 
breeding of valuable stock. He who gives his at¬ 
tention to it and becomes successful, will attract 
the notice of others, and his seeds will command 
abundant purchasers at the highest prices. 
To preserve seeds well, they should generally 
be gathered when fully ripe, be well cleaned, 
dried in the shade, (not by strong fire-heat) and 
kept in a cool place, free from moisture. There 
are a few exceptions to this. Some seeds,—as 
horse-chestnut, acorn, maple, evergreens, grapes, 
apples, etc.—should be planted before they become 
dry, else they will not vegetate well. All seeds 
liable to be attacked by insects, such as peas, 
turnips and radish should be occasionally exam¬ 
ined, and passed through a sieve, to clean them 
from dust and other matters likely to attract 
vermin. It is of the greatest importance to label 
seeds carefully, at the time of gathering them. 
A number of sorts, as of melons and squashes, 
are gathered a„ ’he same time, and as they look 
much alike, they get mixed, or their distinctive 
names forgotten. When planting comes around 
what confusion 1 And if the mixed seeds are 
planted, what increased confusion at the fruiting- 
time 1 
Since writing the above, we see it stated that' 
the seed trade of Boston amounts annually to three 
rniliions of dollars. Ten tuns of turnip-seed were 
sold there last year, and the same of beet seed. 
Of mignonette, 500 pounds only just supplies the 
market. The seed trade of New-York and Phil¬ 
adelphia must be much larger—we have no stat¬ 
istics on hand. 
-— . —— ® c . - 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Treatment of Breeding Heifers—How 
early should they Breed? 
The first season of breeding with the young 
cow is a critical time, and her treatment then has 
much to do with her future character as a milk¬ 
er. Much of the popular prejudice against early 
bearing, say from the age mf twenty to thirty 
months, is owing to the fact that animals with 
calf at this age are neglected, and do poorly. 
Said a distinguished breeder of imported stock, 
“ If I want a good mother in any kind of animals, 
I put them to bearing early.” It would not per¬ 
haps do to say, the earlier the better, but we have 
no doubt early bearing is better than late, if the, 
young animals can have good treatment. 
It is a well known fact that the treatment of 
the seed kernel before the shoot makes its ap¬ 
pearance above ground, has much to do with its 
returns in harvest. Abundant supplies of food, 
just moisture and heat enough at this time, push 
out the young shoot vigorously, strengthen the 
roots, and prepare the way for the plant to take 
care of itself. The same law prevails in the 
growth of animals. If you wish to make a good 
milker of a young cow, she should not only be 
generously fed, and warmly sheltered, while carry¬ 
ing her first calf, but her food should be of a char 
acter to favor the secretion of milk. 
This is very generally overlooked, and the 
heifers, even when they have to eat for two, have 
nothing more than hay, and perhaps not a full 
supply of that. They are often left to take their 
chance among the herd, and are driven away by 
the stronger cattle. A better way is, to give 
them separate stables or sheds for three or four 
months before calving, and supply them with ex¬ 
tra feed, besides hay. Indian meal, oil cake, cot¬ 
ton seed meal, and other articles yielding oil, 
have a very favorable influence upon the organs 
that secrete milk. These organs become well 
developed, and leave a permanent influence upon 
the animal. She becomes a better milker for life. 
A quart of Indian meal and a peck of carrots, added 
to the daily feed of a heifer at this season, will 
be found to be a very good investment. With 
full feed, we can have early bearing heifers, with¬ 
out diminishing the size of the cows. The writer 
has had them come in at the age of twenty-one 
months, and make superior milkers. This is 
probably better economy than to have them go a 
year longer without making any returns of veal 
or milk. X. 
Remarks.— Does not the writer of the above go 
too far 1 Judging from our own observation, we 
think that in the general practice of farmers, 
heifers are put to breeding too early. Probably 
more than half of all the cows in this country 
produced their first calves at two years of age. 
Neat cattle do not reach maturity of growth and 
size until past three years of age. As a general 
thing, nearly as much increase of weight is at¬ 
tained the fourth Summer—or the next six months 
after three years is attained—as during any pre¬ 
vious season. With some breeds, and with good 
feeding, the full weight may be reached at the 
end of three years, but not as a general rule we 
believe. Now it hardly seems reasonable that a 
heifer should grow as well, when taxed with the 
extra duty of bearing a calf. It is claimed that 
early milking developes the milk vessels, but 
some of the best English breeders do not admit 
this. How far the loss in development of the 
cow may lie made up by the gain of a year in 
the use of the animal is a subject worthy of con¬ 
sideration. As this is a question of consid¬ 
erable practical importance, and one but little 
discussed as yet, we shall be glad to have the 
views of observing practical breeders on the sub¬ 
ject—not merely theoretical opinions, but the 
teachings of experience.— Ed.] 
--*—•- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Jotham Sparrowgrass with a Tile in his 
Head. 
Mr. Editor. —“ What’s comin next,” exclaim¬ 
ed Tucker as he saw Jotham Sparrowgrass’ team 
drive up the road with a load of tiles, Uncle Jo¬ 
tham following after as fast as his cane could 
carry him. 
“ Should sooner have thought to see old Spar¬ 
rowgrass on a tin peddler’s car.t, sellin wash basens 
and byin rags,” responded Jones. 
“Guess he’s a gwine tu set up a krokery shop 
to supply the Whiteoakers with sass-pans and 
sich like,” remarked Seth Twiggs with a side¬ 
long glance at Kier Frink, as he stood leaning 
against the wall. 
“ Sass-pans, you fool ! The coal men have got 
beyond that, I ken tell yew, and use tin like oth¬ 
er folks. Guess ye better smoke less and see 
clearer Seth Twiggs,” responded Kier Frink, who 
was tender of the reputation of the Whiteoakers, 
and felt his toes trodden upon a little. 
“He aint a gwine to du nothin of the kind,” 
added Jake Frink. “ Ye see, Uncle Jotham has 
caught Tim Bunker's disease, and is gwine to 
finish up that land round the musk-rat pond. He 
pretends that he don’t believe any thing in the 
Squire’s notions, but the fact is, there aint a big¬ 
ger Bunkerite in town. You see, old Sparrow- 
grass was born when the sign was in the crab, 
and he gets at every thing sideways, jest like one 
oftliern are fish.” 
Jake Frink was not very wide of the mark in 
regard to Uncle Jotham’s disposition. Ever since 
he made an open drain through the rim of his 
pond, and drained three acres Summer before last 
he has talked against new fangled notions, and 
fancy farming a little louder than before. He 
seemed to have a natural amount of satisfaction 
in his victory over the musk-rats, and the tad 
poles, but no particular delight in the dry land. 
But I could see all the while, that he was getting 
up to a new effort, side ways, as Jake Frink says. 
I loaned him the paper, and found he always had 
some inquiries to make about draining, how they 
made tiles, how the water got into them,how deep, 
they had to be laid, and how they worked. I have 
frequently found him down at my horse pond lot, 
running his cane into the ends of the tiles, where 
they empty into the ditch, as if to make sure that 
it was real water that was discharging from the 
hole. He evidently thought there must be some 
trick about it, that the water could not get into 
tiles after they were laid. But there was proof in 
that horse pond lot that he could not very well 
get away from. 
I have been studying that lot some myself, this 
Winter. It is only two seasons since the tiles 
were laid there, and you would be surprised to 
see what a change the surface of the land has 
undergone. The light bluish clay that I threw 
out from the bottoms of the drains and spread 
around upon the surface, has all crumbled to 
pieces, and got to be about as dark as the rest of 
the soil. I have noticed all along over the drains, 
and for a considerable distance upon each side, 
the ground becomes dry very soon after a rain, 
and little cracks aro visible. The land used to be 
