1865.J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
117 
V his keows done well,—’n’ that’s the way I 
sarve mine.” 
Drowning men catch at straws. I tried the 
feed of corn upon the ear, last spring, and 
whether by chance or not, the calves all drop¬ 
ped without any trouble, and I am trying the 
same “superstition” this year. One of my 
finest cows, I will add, had given me a deal of 
trouble each of the two previous years. 
Raising Garden Seeds. 
The ease with which the different vegetable 
seeds can be raised, varies considerably. With 
cucumbers, tomatoes, and many others, we have 
only to select the earliest and finest specimens, 
and the variety can be kept true year after year 
•with but little trouble. With biennial plants, 
more care is required, and unless especial pains 
are taken, the sorts are apt to degenerate if pro¬ 
pagated from home-grown seed. Hence cab¬ 
bage, onion, turnip, and many other seeds of 
this class are usually procured from seedsmen, 
who obtain them from persons who make it a 
business to grow them upon a large scale, 
and who are careful to produce a reliable article. 
For those who wish to grow their own seeds, a 
few hints upon the treatment of the leading 
sorts will be timely, as the season is now at hand 
when biennial roots, bulbs, etc., are to be set 
out for seed. It must be borne in mind that 
all our finer sorts of vegetables are in an unna¬ 
tural state of development. They have been 
brought to their present excellence by carefully 
propagating from those plants which present 
the desirable qualities of size and form, and 
these peculiarities can only be continued by ob¬ 
serving the same conditions. Hence the plants 
from which seeds are to be raised must be the 
best of their kind, and must be placed under 
the most favorable conditions for developement. 
Onions. —There is no crop more affected by 
care in seed raising than the onion. By a pro¬ 
per selection, the shape of the bulbs may be 
modified from very flat to globular, and by 
choosing the earliest ripening bulbs for seed, 
the maturing of the crop may be appreciably 
hastened. At the time of ripening of the crop, 
the earliest, as well as the largest and best formed, 
should be selected for seed-bearing next year, 
and preserved, with good ventilation, during the 
winter. As early as the ground can be worked, 
a plot should be prepared, by heavy manuring 
and deep plowing. Drills are made about three 
feet apart, and five inches deep, into which the 
onions are set, at four or five inches apart, cut¬ 
ting off any long sprouts at the time of plant¬ 
ing. Cover the bulbs with fine earth, which is 
to be gently pressed over them. When the 
tops appear above ground, clean out the weeds 
with a hoe, and draw the earth towards the 
onions; this should be done at each hoeing, so 
that by blossoming-time there will be a hill 
eight or ten inches high around them. After the 
onions blossom, the roots should not he disturb¬ 
ed by working among them. If properly hilled, 
the stems do not usually need any support, but 
if they are inclined to fall over, a line, or strips 
of wood, may be placed at a proper bight to 
hold them up. When the seed pods begin to 
crack, or the stalks turn yellow near the ground, 
cut off the heads, with about six inches of stem, 
and expose them on a cloth to dry. A large 
portion of the seed will rattle out, and the rest 
may be removed by rubbing with the hands, or 
threshing with flail. By placing the seed in 
a vessel of water, the good will sink, and the 
imperfect may be separated. The seed which 
sinks should be thoroughly dried in the sun be¬ 
fore packing it away, else it will deteriorate. 
Cabbages. —The great difficulty in raising 
cabbage seed is in keeping the heads in good 
condition during the winter. The manner de¬ 
scribed in November last (p. 308), is the one 
followed by seecl-raisers. In .the spring, the 
cabbages are set up to the head in rows, in very 
rich soil, and a cross-like incision made through 
the outer leaves to facilitate the escape of the 
flower stalks. All but the strong central shoots 
should be cut out, and any of the weak branches 
of these must be removed. 
Beets, Turnips, and Carrots.— The best 
developed specimens of,these are to be selected 
in autumn, and not cut so closely as to destroy 
the terminal bud, or crown. They arc best pre¬ 
served in sand, but may be kept in holes, in the 
cellar, or in any way which will preserve them 
from wilting or decay. Set them out in well 
prepared soil, remove all secondary shoots 
which start up, and, if need be, give the stems 
some kind of support to keep them from falling 
over. In order to keep varieties pure, the dif¬ 
ferent kinds should not be set near each other. 
Parsnips and Salsify.— In digging from 
tlie bed, the best should be preserved for seed, 
and they may be left to flower where they 
stand, or be removed to a more coni'euient spot. 
The par.snips should have the later flower 
bunches cut off, and only the seed from a few 
of the earliest allowed to perfect. The salsify 
should be cut, with the full length of the stem, 
as soon as the seeds are plump and full, and 
placed in an airy room. If left until quite ripe, 
and the involucre which surround the seeds 
opens, the birds will take the most of the crop. 
Celery. —The seed of this is raised from 
strong plants, which have been well kept 
through the winter. The stems usually need 
stakes to prevent them from felling down. 
--- 
Asparagus. 
We cannot let the spring go by without say¬ 
ing a word for this old-fashioned vegetable. It 
affords one of the earliest products of the 
garden, and every family, large or small, should 
have a bed. The plants can be raised from seed 
sown in a bed by itself, in the spring. The 
seeds are slow to vegetate, but are quite sure to 
come up in three or four weeks. Plants one to 
three years old can be had at the nurseries. In 
making a bed for the permanent occupation of 
the roots, choose a dry, well-drained spot, open 
to the sun, and if sheltered on the north side, 
all the better. Suppose the plot is to be four 
feet wide, and sixteen long—a good size for a 
small family—mark it off with stakes at the 
corners. Remove tlie top earth to the depth 
of a spade, and lay it at one side of the bed. 
Wheel in coarse manure, to cover the bottom, 
three inches thick, and spade it in. Having 
trodden this down moderately, to prevent much 
settling afterward, throw back the top soil, and 
spade three inches more of fine old manure into 
this. Work the whole intimately together. If 
convenient, two or three inches more of rich, 
sandy loam may be spread over the plot, to re¬ 
ceive the roots, though this is not essential. 
The bed, when finished, should be several 
inches higher than the walk. Three rows of 
plants, lengthwise of the bed, and eighteen 
inches asunder, each way, is a suitable distance. 
The common mistake is to set the roots too 
near together, making them crowd one another, 
and speedily exhaust the soil. Cover the 
crowns about four inches deep with good soil. 
No cuttings should be taken off the first year 
and never, until the plants are three years old 
from the seed. Keep the beds clear of weeds 
throughout the summer, and in the fall remove 
the tops, spreading over the crowns about three 
inches of manure. The coarse parts are to be 
raked off in the spring, and the finer carefully 
forked In. Asparagus beds are benefited by 
an annual coat of salt, just enough to cover the 
ground like a white frost. Soap suds, and other 
slops from the kitchen, may be applied occa¬ 
sionally with profit. A bed well made and 
cared for, will produce well for many years. 
Perennial Herbaceous Plants. 
The growing fondne.ss for “bedding-plants/’^ 
is somewhat likely to lead to neglect of the old- 
fashioned perennial flowers. Surely, we are 
not of those wlio would disparage the first 
named; for wlio could get along without the 
Verbena, Petunia, Heliotrope, Lantana, and oth¬ 
ers of this sort ? But there is one great defect 
in these “bedders”; being tender, they cannot 
safely be put out in the border until, or after, 
May 20th, and then it takes several weeks for 
them, to get established and come into bloom. 
Now, every lover of the garden wants a set of 
plants to supply this lack of flowers between 
the first of April and the middle of June. How 
can he do this, save by having a good assort¬ 
ment of perennials ? And we urge the cultiva¬ 
tion of these plants, moreover, because they are 
such old friends, and because their management 
is so simple and easy. All they require is a lit¬ 
tle manuring every other season, and a division 
of the I’oots, and a re-setting once in two or three 
years. Any one wlio is unwilling to take this 
little trouble, doesn’t deserve to have a garden. 
How different this slight labor and care from 
the annual potting and re-potting, the housing 
in winter, and replanting every spring required 
by the tender bedding plants! Leaving out of 
question the Bulbs, such as Snow Drops, Hya¬ 
cinths, Crown Imperials, and others which 
should have been planted last autumn, we give 
a list of common early blooming herbaceous 
perennials, which, if set this spring, -will give a 
fair bloom that will increase in beaut}' and 
abundance in following years: Violets, blue and 
white, single and double, and very fragrant; 
Daisies, Polyanthus, Creeping Phlox, Colum¬ 
bines, Pulmonaria, Lily of the Valley, Coreop¬ 
sis, Fraxinella, Pinks, Dodecatheon, Lychnis, 
Oriental Poppy, Potentilla, Ranu-nculus, Lark¬ 
spurs, Valerian. Of these, all come into bloom 
between April and June 15th, and nearly all 
have numerous varieties. It would be a great 
loss to our gardens to be deprived of them. 
Bones For Poultry. 
Fasten pieces of wide boards on three sides 
of a hard stone, and with a hammer break the 
bones from the kitchen in small fragments, not 
larger than peas. Hens that are laying will eat 
them with avidity. Bones from fresh meat, if 
broken fine so that hens will swallow the pieces, 
are excellent to make them lay. Poultry of all 
kinds should be well supplied with sharp gra¬ 
vel also at this season of the year. Pounded 
oyster shells, where they can be obtained, afford 
one of the best means of supplying lime. 
Good men have the fewest fears. He has but 
one who fears to do wrong. He has a thousanS 
I who has overcome that one. 
