78 
AMER1CAJN AGRICULTURIST. 
practice of others confirms our own expe¬ 
rience. 
The mode of applying decayed vegetables, 
animal manures, guano, &c., must be deter¬ 
mined by the circumstances in each case. As 
with an animal, so with a plant, much de¬ 
pends upon the start it gets in infancy, so to 
speak. The first food in both cases must 
be found ready prepared. Such are the milk 
of the dam, and the “meat” of the seed. 
After the feeding organs are developed by 
this first food, both animals and plants help 
themselves to nourishment.. If in addition 
to its ordinary natural nutriment, a calf, for 
example, be fed with nourishing, stimulating 
food, it will develop limbs and larger feeding 
organs, such as teeth, stomach and intes¬ 
tines, and it will then be able to appropriate 
more food when it. comes to seek its own 
supply. So with a plant, if around the seed 
and in contact with it, we place material 
affording the same elements as the seed 
itself, the expanding the stem, leaves and 
roots will be hastened to larger and earlier 
growth; it will be prepared to appropriate 
larger and quicker supplies of food from the 
air, and more sap from the soil. If we'would 
raise large animals and large plants, special 
attention must be given to the “ infant.” 
This illustrates why, as a general thing, 
large plump seeds produce better crops than 
small defective ones. They furnish more 
food to the first organs. In a rich organic 
soil, the lack of seed nourishment may be 
less felt, but. in a poor mineral soil, large 
kernels of wheat or corn, large potatoes, 
&c., will give better returns for labor. 
The principle here illustrated must be 
kept in mind, in manuring. A thimblefull of 
guano, or a piece of fish or flesh, or a spoon¬ 
ful of decaying manure, a thumb and finger¬ 
ful of ground or dissolved unburned bones, 
mixed with the soil immediately in contact 
with the kernels planted in a corn hill, will 
often so develop the first organs of growth, 
that the future product of stalk and grain 
will be several pounds greater than in an ad¬ 
joining hill not so treated. We may there¬ 
fore lay down two rules for the application 
of manure. 
1st. In a rich soil, containing an abund¬ 
ance of organic or vegetable matter to sup¬ 
ply the general wants of the roots as they 
expand in every direction, the chief ma¬ 
nure required will be a small quantity of 
organic material already in a state of decay, 
to be well mingled with the soil immediately 
in contact with the seed. Where an abund¬ 
ance of vegetable material already exists in 
the soil, a little ashes, lime or potash, put in 
with the seed, will tend to prepare the food 
already there for immediate use. A year or 
two since, we saw Dr. Cross, of Elizabeth, 
N. J., planting a new rich soil, where he 
added to each hill a handful of hen manure 
mixed with ashes just before using. This, 
he remarked, had produced the best results. 
The reason is evident. The potash of the 
unleached ashes, acting upon the still unde- 
cayecB 1 manure, produced nascent elements 
(those just on the point of liberation from a 
compound), and these were at once appro¬ 
priated. The fertile soil supplied all future 
necessities of the plant. 
2nd. In a soil poor in organic materials, 
first take care to supply the immediate 
wants of the young plants by manure in con¬ 
tact with the seed, and in addition to this, 
let there be diffused throughout the whole 
space to be occupied by roots, a quantity of 
organic material, to be appropriated as the 
continued expansion of the roots may re¬ 
quire. 
It will seldom pay to manure the entire 
soil so heavily that an additional application 
to the seed will not be profitable. 
Seeds of all kinds will be benefitted by 
moistening them with urine, or manure 
drainings, or guano water, and drying them 
off with fine poultry manure, or fine dry 
muck, or especially with plaster. The latter 
substance appropriates and retains manurial 
elements from the atmosphere, and from 
water in the soil. Seeds to be planted or 
sown in a strongly vegetable, peaty or 
mucky soil, may well be moistened with 
water, and dried with unleached ashes or 
lime; but neither ashes nor lime should be 
used where liquid manure or guano water 
is taken for a steep. 
MUSTARD. 
Almost everybody likes a spoonful of a 
first-rate pungent article with his slice of 
cold ham or corned beef. A few epicures 
pretend to like it on their bread and butter, 
and apple-pie, but we very much doubt they 
are in earnest, though there is said to be no 
accounting for tastes. But no one is certain 
to get good mustai'd who buys the yellow 
dust in small quarter-pound tin cans, or long 
flat bottles with the stamp of a London 
manufacturer upon them, probably made, re¬ 
duced, packed and labeled in some country 
village at home. There is so much Indian 
meal and other cheap stuff mixed with it, 
that all lovers of mustard are sorely disap¬ 
pointed. 
To forestall this disappointment, we pro¬ 
pose to have every farmer raise his own 
mustard. It grows as rank as a weed, is 
wonderfully prolific, and any one who can 
grow clover can grow mustard. A thimble 
full of seed of the blacjt mustard, (Sinapis 
Nigra,) will be sufficient to stock quite a 
plantation. 
Though very hardy, and certain to bear 
seed on almost any soil, it will pay well for 
thorough manuring and plowing. As it is 
difficult to gather without scattering some 
of its seeds, it is better to plant it in a spot 
by itself, away from the garden. Sow the 
seeds in drills two feet apart, and when up 
thin out to a foot apart. This will give room 
for the plant to develop themselves, and to 
form full pods. This mode of culture will 
also give opportunity to keep the weeds 
down, and thus prevent the admixture of for¬ 
eign seeds with the inustard. The plants 
flower in June and July, and are ready for 
gathering when the pods turn dry-colored. 
They must be very thoroughly dried before 
threshing and storing. The seeds part read¬ 
ily from the pod, and the chaff is easily sep¬ 
arated. 
If one has a good mill for grinding small 
seeds and spices at home, he will need no 
further directions to get good mustard. If 
he has not let him take a few pound to mar¬ 
ket, and watch it as it goes through the mill 
and be careful that he brings away the pack¬ 
age that his own mustard flour is put into, 
and we will warrant him an article that will 
not taste like moldy meal when he dines on 
cold meats. He will also have a material for 
making a genuine mustard poultice that will 
raise a blister without help. It should al¬ 
ways be in the house as antidote for poison. 
A spoonful taken with wann water gives a 
powerful emetic, and clears the stomach of 
all deleterious matters. 
Both the white and black varieties are ex¬ 
tensively cultivated as a field crop sown 
broadcast. It grows so readily in our cli¬ 
mate that there is no apology for the im¬ 
mense quantity of diluted and spoiled flour 
of mustard that disgraces the market. Let 
the farmers raise their own seed. It is an 
excellent condiment, used in moderate quan¬ 
tities, and the young plants form an agreea 
ble salad. The only objection to giving it a 
place in the garden is its proneness to scat¬ 
ter the seed, and the difficulty of eradicating 
it from the ground. Some gardenex-s, how¬ 
ever, make up a bed among other vegetables, 
Which Is kept for that purpose year after 
year, seeding itself while being gathered. 
A WORD ABOUT DRAINS. 
At this season of the year all drains 
should be examined, and put in good work¬ 
ing order. If their outlets are clogged with 
dirt or obstacles, they should be cleaned out 
at once. If any one of them does not run 
as freely as it ought, it is probable that some 
obstruction has occurred to the channel 
somewhere. To find just where this is, 
walk along the corner of the drain, and you 
will probably find some wet spot on the sur¬ 
face. Dig down to the drain and find out 
the cause of the trouble. 
Now, also, is a good time to examine the 
soil of the farm and garden, to see whether 
they need draining. If surface water crops 
out at any point, and stands for any length 
of time without passing off, it is quite obvi- • 
ous that draining would benefit such ground. 
The very extended and careful experiments 
which have been made both in England and 
in this country, show conclusively that all 
heavy, springy land, are made warmer and 
more productive by draining; and that the 
increased yield of crops from lands so treat¬ 
ed covers very soon, and more than covers, 
the cost of such work. 
The early part of this month is an excel¬ 
lent time for making drains. The frost is 
now coming out of the ground, leaving it soft 
and easy to dig, and the hurry of Spring 
work has hardly arrived. We trust our sug¬ 
gestions will be heeded. More are to come. 
“ Can’t Afford It.”—“ Come in, Joe, and let’s 
take a drink.” 
“ No, Thomas, I can’t afford it.” 
“ Well, but Joe, I’ll pay for it.” 
“Oh, I am not speaking ol loss of money, 
Thomas, but of loss of health and energy, moral 
principle, character, peace of mind, self respect 
and sweet breath.” 
