1874 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
387 
I8©Y^ <& tims? d5©IL.¥®M®o 
Tl»c S>octoa*’s Tails s—Tin; Gardeji 
asi«i Seeflls. 
Some time last Spring I had something to say about 
your little gardens, I recollect that it was at the time of 
seed sowing, and I then expected to say more as the 
season ran along. Here it is now the time when most 
plants are ripening their seeds, and I find that I have said 
but little about the garden during the summer. Of 
course you have all had gardens of some kind, even if 
only a plant or two, or at any rate you have watched the 
plants in mother’s garden, which is almost as well as 
having one yourself. Well, there have been the flowers, 
Fig. 1. —FOLDING THE BAG. 
growing and blooming all summer. Everybody has said 
“how beautiful,” and “ how sweet.”—Now what do you 
suppose the flowers have been at work about, and what 
have they made all this brightness and sweetness for ? 
Perhaps you think that the flowers have all these months 
been budding and blooming, spreading their beautifully 
colored petals, and sending out their charming odors, 
just to please you and others. No doubt that when you 
collected a little nosegay of the best and sweetest, and 
carried it to mother or sister, you thought that these 
plants grew only for your enjoyment and their’s. If the 
plants could speak, they would tell a very different story ; 
they would tell yon that all along they have thought but 
little of you and your pleasure, indeed, that they thought 
but little about the present time, for they were too busy in 
caring for the future—for next year, and the years to come, 
and that so far* as you have cut away the flowers, you 
have only been a trouble to them ; that their whole time 
and care has been given to the ripening of those lit¬ 
tle dark colored seeds, which are to make plants another 
year, and if they did put on fine colors, and keep honey 
and sweet odors down in their little hearts, it was only 
to tell their friends the insects, that they had lots to do 
in the seed-making way, and that they wanted the help 
of the butterflies, the moths, the bees, and all sorts of 
winged insects. How the insects can help the flowers, 
is a long story, which can not be given here, but may be 
told another time, still the fact is well known, that many 
of the plants in the flower and vegetable garden, would 
not get along nearly so well in the seed business, without 
insect aid as they do with it. Yes, all this growth of stem 
and leaf, all this display of bud and flower, all the bright 
colors, and honey drops, and sweet odors have been 
to produce just such little dry dark-colored seeds as were 
planted last spring. Seed, plant, flower, then seed again, 
is the way with most plants, over and over, year after 
year. Do you recollect that last spring I asked you to 
Fig. 2.— FOLDING THE ENDS. 
think what a wonderful thing a seed is; what a mystery 
is wrapped up in the tiny grain, which will remain quiet 
for years, until the proper heat and moisture awaken the 
sleeping little plant within it? But nowit is not the 
proper time to talk about growing the plant from the seed, 
we must consider the seed as the end of the season’s work 
of the plant. If we left the seeds to take their own 
course, they would be scattered upon the ground near 
where the plant grew, or they wonld be carried to greater 
distances as they were taken by the winds, or thrown by 
the bursting of the seed pods. The ways provided for 
the scattering of the seed, are many and most interesting, 
but we do not wish to talk just now about seed scattering 
but of seed saving. If we allow seeds to go just as they 
please, those of plants from warm countries will be 
killed by the cold of winter ; others will come up after 
laying on the ground until spring, but at the same time 
the seeds of weeds will come up too, and our flowering 
plants will be likely, while very young, to be crowded 
and killed by the more rongh and strong young weeds. 
So in gardening we help nature, by gathering the 
seeds and keeping them until next spring, or the 
proper time, and then sow them where we can take care 
of the little plants, and give them the ground all to them- 
seives, where they will not have to struggle and crowd 
against any others. If yon look around among the 
blunts, yon will see that the seeds are in little cases or 
j pods of very different forms. Some of these pods go 
open with a pop 1 and scatter the seeds all about ; these 
you'must gather just as they begin to ripen ; others just 
break: open, and'need a little shaking or rubbing, to 
make the seeds come out, and there will be still other 
kinds of seed-vessels. So you must exercise a little care 
in the matter. The best way is to have some paper- 
boxes, and put the seed-pods in these for a few days, un¬ 
til they dry ; then rub the seeds out, pick out the re¬ 
mains of the pods, stems, and other coarse things, and 
then put the seeds on a paper, and carefully blow away 
the light dust that is among them. Mind, that when you 
gather the seeds, you put their name with them; write 
this on a piece of card, or on a bit of stick, to keep with 
the seeds while they are drying. Never have seeds of 
any kind anywhere, unless there is a name with them ; 
this will avoid much trouble and guessing. Having the 
seeds all dried and cleaned, they are to be put away for 
winter; some make little paper-bags, by pasting them 
just like the grocer’s bags, only much smaller, and these 
are very good. But I want to tell you how to make a bag 
without any paste, which can be larger or smaller, as 
yon have few or many seeds, and which can be made 
anywhere in a “ giffy ; ” if you are in a garden and wish 
to give a friend a few seeds, or if you are in the fields or 
woods, and find a plant, the seeds of which you would 
like to save, if you have only a bit of paper, you can 
make a bag as good as the best. 
How to make it.—You need a piece of paper, letter pa¬ 
per or smooth brown paper are as good as any, some¬ 
what longer than wide ; this you fold over, but not quite 
equally, See figure 1, the edge of the part of the paper 
you fold over, should come to the line between A and B 
in the figure. Then fold A over on to B, and both to¬ 
gether over to the dotted line below B. This is twice as 
easy as it seems in explaining it. Then turn the paper 
over, and fold one end as shown at the right hand of 
fig. 2. Next fold the point b over in the same manner, 
and tuck the point b under the fold a, and it will appear 
as seen on the left-hand end of the diagram. You can 
prepare your bags by folding one end beforehand ; when 
ready to put in the seeds, you can open the bag by blow¬ 
ing at the unfolded end, and when the seeds are in, that 
end is closed, by folding it just as you did the first end. 
This makes a bag, from which the finest seeds will not 
escape, and which for all but very large parcels, such as 
vegetable seeds, is as handy as need be. There is no 
paste required, no string to tie, and a very neat parcel 
can be made with common paper. But before you put 
the parcel away, do not forget to label it. Figure 3 shows 
how this is done. Like all such things, these bags are 
much easier to make, than to describe, but if you take a 
piece of paper, and follow the directions, I think you 
will succeed the first time. Seeds should not be put 
away until dry, and then they should be kept in a cool, 
dry place, where mice will not find them. I can not end 
this seed story, without asking you to put away many 
more seeds than you will be likely to want for yourself. 
Always have enough to give away, for you do not know 
how much pleasure may be inclosed in the little packet 
with the seeds. To care tor and give away flower seeds, 
is one of the ways in which even boys and girls can help 
to make the world better. The Doctor. 
METAGRAM. 
In the name of a certain animal may be found: 1. Two 
large bodies of water; 2. Two very important pronouns; 
2. Part of the face ; 4. A measure; 5. A Hebrew measure ; 
G. A disgusting insect; 7. A country; 8. Invalid; 9. An 
eminence; 10. A musical note; 11. An unpleasant sen¬ 
sation ; 12. Ice ; and 13. A preposition. M. P. 
pi. 
Het liapt hatt dales ot fourten oto entof sapess hoghurt 
eth wornar fedlies fo mansense, chiwh a nam fo deeltax 
tisrip actoun ostop ot trade. 
CROSS-WORD. 
My first is in Fannie but not in Will, 
My next is.in quat- but not in gill, 
My third is in short but not in long, 
My fourth is in smile but not in song, 
My fifth is in rind but not in peel. 
My sixth is in iron but not in steel, 
My seventh is in grandeur but not in station, 
My whole is a virtuous occupation. 
Arthur and Hankie. 
CONCEALED CAPES. 
1. I can never be sulficiently grateful to that man. 
2. It was a horribly dismal morning. 
3. The sign was over a cellar door. 
4. Is the Roc a fabulous bird ? 
5. Do it better? O ! Ma, I never can. 
G. Here, Ma, you do it for me. 
7. Otto rang ever so many times before the door was 
opened. T. Schwarman. 
TRANSPOSITIONS. 
1. One who in danger's always found 
Becomes a tiller of the ground. 
2. A female name, by sudden change. 
Brings forth a fruit to us quite strange. 
3. One who 2s made by debt a slave, 
Becomes a dish I do not crave. 
4. Transform one skilled in sacred lore, 
Into a dweller by the shore. 
5. A place where fire is used to burn, 
Becomes a torch by skillful turn. Enrico. 
CHARADE. 
Two plants—the first one very bitter, 
The other often known as “ sweet,” 
Will form a coin whose golden glitter ■ 
The eyes of Eastern travellers meet. Henry. 
Diamond Puzzle. 
The center letters, perpendicular and horizontal, form 
a well-known city. 
1. Part of a cage. 
2. A pronoun. 
3. Malice. 
4. A city. 
5. Income. 
6. The latter part of life. 
7. Part of a book. C. E. A. 
WORD SQUARE. 
1. A flag by several countries used, 
’Tis not with flag of truce confused. 
2. A kind of juice, unpleasant taste, 
That’s rather thick—-a kind of paste. 
3. By Indians used as food ; by them 
Long raised, from grain to glossy stem. 
4. A game that men of pleasure play, 
When into gilded dens they stray. 
Henriqubs. 
ANSWERS TO TUZZLES IN THE AUGUST NUMBER. 
Alphabetical Arithmetic. —(Key: Buy it for me.) 
213)657843(3088. 
Aunt Sue’s Piizzle-ltox. 
DOUBLE ACROSTIC. 
The initials and finals give the names of two river3. 
1. An island in Africa. 
2. An exclamation. 
3. A beverage. 
4. A bird. 
5. A girl’s name. 
6. To deplore. 
7. A precious stone. 
8. A river in Kansas. 
9. A girl’s name. 
10. An exclamation. Herbert J. K. 
Square Words.—1. MANSE 
ARENA 
NEVER 
SNELL 
EARLY 
2. L E A S T 
ELDER 
ADIEU 
SEEMS 
TRUST 
Transpositions.—1. Angel, angle, glean. 2. Peri, 
pier, ripe. 3. Meteor, remote. 4. Edom, dome, mode. 
5. Stare, tares, rates, tears. 
Changed Heads.— Home, dome, Rome. 
Cross Word.—F lorida. 
Anagrams.— 1. Moribund. 2. Laughter. 3. Decimals. 
4. Dyspepsia. 5. Blithesome. 6. Landscapes. 7. Orna¬ 
mental. 8. Brilliance. 9. Prospectus. 10. Meddlesome. 
NUMERICAL ENIGMA. 
I am composed of 13 letters ; 
My 3, 11, 13, is a city in France. 
My 4, 10, 's to no-fci-m. 
My 12, 2, :. . ... 
My 8, 1, 5, 9, 11, is a ooat. 
My 13, 7, 8, 11, is a city in France. 
My whole is to be found between two continents. 
Geo. H. Fuller. 
Double Acrostic. —Carlisle, Portland. 
C- ar -P 
A- mo -O 
R- ca -R 
L- as -T 
I- mperia -L 
S’- ab -A 
L- oo -N 
E- dwar -D 
