74 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
The Doctor’s Talks. 
Who saw the Transit of Venus ? No doubt near¬ 
ly every one of you on the 6th of December last, 
had a bit of smoked glass, trying to see a minute 
black dot on the face of the sun. Not only were 
young and old then looking at the sun, but most 
of the Governments of Europe sent observers to 
different parts of the world to watch it. Much 
was to be learned by observing this little dot on the 
sun, and thousands, yes hundreds of thousands of 
dollars were expended in making observations of 
this transit, as another will not take place in over 
a hundred years. If a transit of Venus took place 
every day, how few would notice it! The interest 
in this transit was owing in good part to its rarity. 
On Your Own Farms—All Around You, 
There will soon be taking place some of nature’s 
movements quite as wonderful, in their way, as the 
Transit of Venus. There will be no parties sent 
out with telescopes to see them—you will not even 
need the smoked glass—but if you will use your 
own eyes, you may see wonderful things. Let us 
suppose that we—that is, you and I and all of us— 
lived on an island, where all the plants were large 
"trees that supplied us with abundant food, and we 
were not obliged to raise any grain or other crops. 
Imagine that a stranger visiting our island, should 
take from his pocket a little thing, smaller than a 
boy’s marble, and say, “ Here is the most wonder¬ 
ful little box in the world, I have had it for months, 
you see that it is hard and dry and smooth. Yet it 
has within it a living tree, which I can bring out, 
and which on onecondition,sliallbecomeaslargeas 
that tall oak over there.”—Who would believe the 
stranger at first ? On the island, you had seen no 
plants start from the beginning, and for this one 
little box, to contain all this, would it not be 
strauger than any fairy story or tale of the Arabian 
Nights ? Some of you might ask the stranger about 
the “one condition” needed to bring the big tree 
out of the little box. He would say, “ Time. This 
holds but the beginning of the tree, time must do 
the rest.” You have already guessed that our lit¬ 
tle box was an acorn—or oak-seed. 
Bet Us Try Beaus anil Corn, 
which are common everywhere, and so large that 
& magnifying glass will not be needed to see them. 
Fig. 1.— GERMINATING BEANS. 
Take a dozen beans and as many kernels of com. 
If you lay these on a shelf, they will remain for 
years without change. What then is needed to 
start them into life? How shall we wake up the 
sleeping little plaut within ? Knowing that in the 
field or garden, seeds are put in the moist soil, you 
will think that the first step in rousing our little 
-sleepers should be to give them moisture. It may 
be that you will put your beans and corn in a cup, 
and cover them with water. Should you do this, 
you will find in a few days that they have spoiled, 
and have begun to decay. You will conclude that 
tliey need moisture, but not too much. This is 
true, but the real trouble is, that in covering the 
seeds with water, you have shut out the air. Seeds, 
then, need both moisture and air to arouse them. 
Place some soil in a flower-pot, a box, or whatever 
will hold it; put the seeds in the soil, and set the 
whole on the window-sill or some other place out¬ 
side. Still no signs of life! You will inquire why, 
with moisture and air, they do not grow ? Recol¬ 
lect that seeds will not be put into the open ground 
for some months yet—not until the ground gets 
warm. If you now bring your soil and seeds into 
the house, and place them in the warm kitchen 
window, you will shortly see something that shows 
that our little sleepers are beginning to wake up. 
Now what have we learned thus far ? I have hinted 
that each seed has 
inside of it a little 
plant. In some 
seeds it may not 
at first look much 
like a plant, but it 
is the beginning 
of one. We call 
this little infant 
plant, so to speak, 
the embryo. To 
start this embryo 
into growth, to 
awaken it, we 
must give it (1) 
moisture, (2) air, 
(3) warmth. Seeds 
differ greatly as 
to the amount of 
heat they need to 
start them. A few 
will begin at a few 
degrees above 
freezing, but the 
seeds of our use¬ 
ful plants need a 
Fig. 2.— young bean plant. warmth of 40° and 
over, and some 
from warm countries as much as 70°. You notice 
that beets, peas, and some other seeds are sown as 
soon as the frost is out of the ground, while 
for corn, beans, and others, we wait until the soil 
is well warmed—in May, or later. Now we wish to 
give our corn and beans the proper conditions, 
which we can do by sowing them in soil, or in 
sand, or even saw-dust. Another plan is to take 
two pieces of thick, soft paper, or cloth of some 
kind, double this a few times, place it in a deep 
plate, and put the seeds upon it; lay over them 
the other piece, add water enough to keep the 
cloth or paper moist, cover with another plate, and 
set all in a warm place. You will wish to look at 
your seeds every day. If in soil or sand, you must 
carefully dig one up, but those on the cloth or 
paper can be watched more readily. At first you 
will notice that the seeds will be larger than be¬ 
fore ; they will take up moisture, and usually 
break their covering or skin. Figure 1 shows what 
happens to the bean after the skin breaks. A little 
stem (radicle is the proper name for it), which was 
bent up in the seed, will point downwards, no 
matter which side up the bean was placed. This 
radicle grows longer, and will soon lift up the beau 
out of the soil; then roots will begin to grow, and 
after awhile the beans will appear as in fig. 2. You 
will notice that the two halves of the bean in this 
cut are pushed up above ground. These are the 
“ seed-leaves,” and by the time the bean is fairly 
up, as in fig. 3, these seed-leaves will be much 
shrivelled. They were at first full of food, and 
this has been used to feed the plant until the roots 
had grown, and it could take care of itself. The 
corn seed, on the other hand, is not raised up out 
of the soil. At first it will show its radicle ; soon a 
little shoot will grow upwards, and at last the little 
rolled-up leaves appear above ground, as we see 
them in the field. These are striking things for you 
to see, but there are others to notice. The Doctor. 
Valentines. 
The custom of choosing “ Valentines,” and send¬ 
ing small gifts is very old. It originated among 
the ancient Romans who kept the feast of “ Febru- 
ataJuno ,” (Feb. 15th,) in much the same manner 
as Valentine’s day is observed now : and it was cer¬ 
tainly practised among the gentry of England early 
in the 15th century. The oldest poetical valentine 
of which we have record is one composed by 
Charles, Duke of Orleans, who was taken prisoner 
at the battle of Agincourt, in 1416. It was written 
during his confinement in the tower of London, and 
is still to be seen among the royal papers in the 
British Museum. When Madame Royale, daughter 
of Henry the Fourth, of France, built her beautiful 
palace near Turenne, she named it Valentine, in 
honor of the saint of that name; and at the first 
entertainment given in it, ordered that the ladies 
should secure their partners for the year, by lot, 
but reserved to herself the privilege of choosing 
her own. Then, whenever a ball was given by the 
princess, each courtier sent his chosen lady a nose¬ 
gay, while in return, at the tournament, the lady 
provided the trappings for her knight’s horse, 
with the proviso that she should receive the prize 
that he obtained. This practice caused the parties 
to be called Valentines ; and seems to have been 
the original of the custom in France. 
The hearts and darts, and daintily painted cards 
of our day, were then unknown; but flowers, 
gloves, and other articles of apparel were consid¬ 
ered suitable gifts for Valentines. In small vil¬ 
lages of Scotland, at Valentine parties, the names 
of the lads and lassies are written on slips of paper, 
and mixed in a bag, from which each one draws, to 
discover who shall be his or her valentine. In 
Hertfordshire, England, the children meet in assem¬ 
blies, and proceed in a body to the house of the 
Fig. 3.— BEAN PLANT AT LATER STAGE. 
chief personage of the place, who throws them 
wreaths, and true lover’s knots from the window, 
with which they adorn themselves. The girls then 
select one of the youngest boys, whom they deck 
out more gaily than the rest, and with him at their 
head march through the town, singing:— 
“ Good morrow to you Valentine, 
Curl your locks as I do mine, 
Two before, and three behind, 
Good morrow to you Valentine.” 
This refrain they repeat under the windows of all 
