1883 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
513 
stances, and a day’s tramp through the woods will 
be sure to reveal them, while less striking, but none 
the less wonderful and interesting feats, are trans¬ 
piring every day in our gardens and fields. 
Take Good Care of the Seeds. 
It is one thing to select the best fruits, vegeta¬ 
bles, grains, etc., and quite another to watch them 
■during the finishing process, and place the carefully 
gathered seed where it 
will keep well andean he 
found when wanted for 
planting. This latter is 
where most farmers and 
villagers fail, and the 
seed bag, after a few 
years, becomes a motley 
gathering of pepper seed 
dried in the pod; onion 
seed of many years 
growth, without label; 
beet seed, where man¬ 
gold, sugar beet, and the 
early and late varieties 
are all mixed, and a 
promiscuous gathering of 
home grown and pur¬ 
chased varieties, without 
a single date to tell how 
old they are. This of 
course makes the farm¬ 
er’s garden uncertain and 
discouraging to the owner, and he comes to be¬ 
lieve that it is of no use to save seed, and not much 
use to plant a garden. It he plants at all he relies 
upon the seed sold at the stores, put up in boxes 
and labeled but not dated, to facilitate repacking 
with every new year's distribution. It requires 
time and patience, a careful attention to details, to 
■secure the good seed you have selected, to put it 
in packages with label and date, and then to box 
it where it will be secure from moisture, insects, 
and mice. These are the kind of riches that the 
moth corrupts, and thieves break through and 
steal. If you have any doubt on this point hang 
up your seed corn in a building infested with mice. 
It is better to dry the ears, especially of sweet 
corn, by artificial heat, and pack the seed in a tin 
case, proof against rats and mice. The yellow cu- 
ram fF = 
^ □ ><& 
Yearlings . 
A Good Succession of Sweet Corn. 
We were talking with our neighbor the last of 
August. He is a thriving farmer, and derives a 
large part of his income from his woodland, cart¬ 
ing railroad ties, timber and wood six miles to 
market. He was lamenting that he had only just 
got to eating sweet corn, had lost the early kind of 
seed he once had, and the sweet corn season would 
be a very short one at his house. A great many 
farmers are in the same predicament, or worse. 
Fig. 7.— EXTERIOR OF A REMODELLED BARN. 
Many have no sweet corn at all, and depend upon 
the flint field corn for their roasting ears and succo¬ 
tash for a season of three weeks. Others have one 
variety of sweet corn, planted about the middle of 
May, and ready for the table about August tenth. 
They have but one planting, and the season is 
barely three weeks at the best. This brief period 
of epicurean delight with the best vegetable that 
comes to our tables during the summer, is living 
far short of our privileges as the tillers of the soil. 
In the latitude of middle New England and New 
York, there is little difficulty in having three 
months of green ears in their most juicy and appe¬ 
tizing condition, contributing largely to the supply 
of the table during the hot months, when succulent 
food is so desirable. After trying several varieties 
of early sweet corn, we have settled upon the 
25x 3 ' 
two plantings of this sort, say the fifteenth and 
twenty-fifth of May. This should be supplemented 
by two plantings of “Crosby’R Early” or some other 
medium sort, say the twenty-fifth of May and the 
fifth of June, which will be ready for the last three 
weeks of August. This should be followed by two 
plantings of “ Stowell’s Evergreen,” on the fifth 
and fifteenth of June, and these by two later plant¬ 
ings of the “ Marblehead ” on the twenty-fifth of 
June and fifth of July. The “ Stowell’s Ever¬ 
green” is a very large and juicy variety, continuing 
in the milk longer than 
any other variety, and is 
second to none in quali¬ 
ty. We have had it al¬ 
most from its first intro¬ 
duction, nearly thirty 
years ago, and consider 
it indispensable in any 
garden that raises a fam¬ 
ily supply of vegetables. 
With three varieties of 
sweet corn we have been 
able to provide a daily 
and bountiful supply of 
this toothsome esculent 
for about three months 
in the year, occasionally 
running into November, 
in a location on the sea 
shore. A quarter acre of 
land cannot be put to a 
more profitable use than 
in growing this substan¬ 
tial and tempting article of food. Almost every 
one likes it on first acquaintance and the appe¬ 
tite grows by what it feeds upon. It is not only 
inviting in the simplest forms, in which it is served, 
roasting, and boiling, but admits of a great variety 
of preparations, fritters, puddings, etc. It is an 
indispensable element in that aboriginal dish succo¬ 
tash, which has survived the changes of two hun¬ 
dred and fifty years. Get the ground ready, buy 
the seed, and make sure of ninety days of sweet 
corn for the next season. 
In an orchard where there are many trees of one 
kind, they are known by their position, which 
should be properly recorded. Where there is a col¬ 
lection of several varieties, or where several kinds, 
by way of trial, have been grafted into one tree, la- 
& ~ & 
Fig. 8.—FEEDING FLOOR OF A REMODELLED BARN. 
■cumbers, laid upon the shed roof to ripen are apt 
to be left until rotten and frozen. The tomatoes 
need to be washed out, and the seed spread upon 
papers or plates to dry in the sun, or by the fire. 
The saving, drying, labeling, and dating the best 
■seed the land will produce is essential to thrift 
upon the farm and in the garden. Some seeds are 
better for keeping, specially those of melons, 
squashes, and cucumbers. Those that are useless 
should be carefully burned. Sort the seed dox 
every year. Carefully label and date every package. 
11 Marblehead Early,” as the most desirable sort 
for early planting. It is a week in advance of the 
“ Minnesota ” and the “ Narragansett,” both excel¬ 
lent varieties, and a great improvement upon the 
older sorts. This has been tested over a wide ex¬ 
tent of territory, and the testimony as to its excel¬ 
lence is quite uniform. We planted the “ Marble¬ 
head ” about the middle of May, and good roasting 
ears were ready the twentieth of July, furnishing 
an abundant supply for the family for nearly four 
weeks. For a good succession we should make 
bels become necessary. Before winter sets in, the 
labels should be looked to, and all that are not per¬ 
fectly legible should be replaced. There is no bet' 
ter general label than sheet zinc. Cut this in long, 
tapering, wedge-shaped pieces, about six inches 
long, and an inch across the larger end. The name 
of the variety is to be written near the large end 
with a common lead-pencil, making the letters very 
distinct. The slender portion is to be loosely coil¬ 
ed around a twig. The black-lead of the pencil 
completely protects the zinc surface under it. 
