Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-07-18
FARM AND GARDEN.
selecting aud Keeping Seeds


its quality, and that which tends to the
same result, the increase Of the fructIica-
ton by the process Of sleeping, are both
very commonly considered new ideas; and
the latter especially so new as to have its
value not yet determined. The selection
of seeds was considered by the ancients as
essential TO prevent rapid degeneration,
and their preparation for sowing by steep
ing was familiar. 1t is only what we call
especially enlightened cultiyators who see
the necessity of such selection, and prac-
tice upon it. Some have practiced il with
most valuable results, not in maintaining
only the quality Of seeds, but in origina-
ting valuable new varieties. There Is in
deed scarcely one Of our ordinary crops
which have not, within a few years, felt the
effect Of iudicious selection.
But few cultivators, comparatively, re-
cognize the value of a due preparation OF
seeds by sleeping in fertilizing substances.
There seems to be on record hardly enough
Of reliable testimony to justify a depen-
dence upon any particular mode OF any
particular substance, in thus fersilizing our
seeds, but quite enough to call for and to jus
tify the most painstaking experiments to de-
=. termine how OF with what the different seeds
NAV preparedto givethem that impulse in
their earliest growth which seems to inllu-
ence all their after progress. We know,
saws the American Farmer how especially
necessary 10 our great staple, wheat, Is such
an early impulse, that, under our practice
Of late fall sowing, il may be so rooted IN
the fail as to enable il in the spring to bear
It's burden Of seed. 1t may be doubted
whether the marvellous effect Of a mere
busting of Peruvian guano were not due
rather TO this effect upon its earliest growth
than TO any orher influence. When the
drill came into use intelligent farmers tes-
tilted that fifty pounds put in contact with
the seed. through the tubes Of the drill,
were equivalent to two hundred sown
broadcast: and less than half this quantity
was said to give an equal apparent lm~
movement, in some cases, where the grain
was brined first and busted with as much
guano as would adhere to It.
DIR. David Stewart, well known as an ag-
ricultural chemist, and who has given a
great deal of experimental investigation
20 questions of this sort, says, IN an article
published some years ago in the American
Farmer: "Any soil properly constituted
with regard TO consistence and in organic
elements, will produce double the crop with
good cultivation, if we insure prompt and
vigorous growth of the young plant"
"The most important influence" he says,
further, "exerted by concentrated manures
appears TO be their tendency TO develop
more promptly and perfectly the germs of
the cereals. How il is possible that the
embryo should anticipate its future wants,
and recognize the supply, we cannot divine
but il appears pretty well established that
seeds may be dormant for years, until
certain excess of the elements necessary 70
their full development accumRlates around
them, and thus, or by peculiar cultivation,
they obtain the ascendency over other
plants.
Multiplied experiments have proved
that a 1.-THE Of this quantity, placed near
the seed, will produce the same effect, al
though two-thirds of the manure is COM
posed of volatile elements which do not
contain one-fth of their weight Of nitro
gen; aud what is still more remarkable,
the heterogeneous or ammoniacal manures
not only add more than ten times their
weight Of nitrogen to the plants, but those
grains that contain the most nitrogen are
least benefited by heterogeneous manures.
Have we derived no hints on this subject
from the poor Indian, who to this day
presses ont a few drops Of blood from his
slaughtered foe upon his hills of maize
Blood is highly azotised substance, ex-
ceedingly liable 10 change, and during the
state of activity or change il is apt TO set
up fermentation in grains of corn, and
those metamorphoses which precede and
accompany termination"
A number Of carefully made experiments
are also found recorded in the American
Farmer as made by Hon. T. q. Clemson,
Commissioner Of Agriculture under Presi-
dent Buchanan, on his place near Wash
ington.
The practice Of preparing seed he re-
marks, 4" is by no means new The Egyp-
tians and other nations practiced the art,
and I have reasons for believing that it
made a necessary part of their system of
husbandry. Alter multiplied observations
and varied experiments, l have come 20
the conclusion that a proper preparation
increases, vastly, production. l also be
lieye that the same cause renders the plant
less liable 20 the casualties of disease and
the destructive action Of insects, and in
small grain, on which ] have chiefly eXpe-
rimented. increases the quantity and quail
~ Of the grain, as well as adding greatly
10 the size, healthiness and amount OF
straw.
These observations have been repeat
edlv corroh0rated by those who have had
occasion and who have taken sufficient IN
terest in the matter, 10 compare and ex'
anime into the subject
As the experiments were instituted foI
my own personal satisfaction, l have not
found il necessary 10 be exact as TO meas.
urement Of ground. and product, varied
paintings. side BY side, afforded the means
of comparison for my purposes. Al the
instance Of a friend, carefully measured
the ground planted last year an rye and
wheat. No manure Of any kind was used.
The ground seeded amounted 10 nine
and a-haif acres-seven and a-half In rye
and two IN wheat The top of the hill,
which ! thought the poorest, was sowed
with rye the seed having been previously
prepared through the entire length and
IN the centre a strip of about two lands was
sowed with the same seed In is normal
state. The ground sowed with prepared
seed measured three acres. There was a
maniie1t difference in the size Of the heads,
straw and grain, between the prepared and
unprepared. The crop from the prepared
seed was even, tall and heavy the heads
long and bending over. That from the
uuprepared was uneven, much Of Il small