American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-06-21
Plant Il Few for Seed.

TIE man who makes specially of any
kind of grain or plant and cultivates it ex-
tensively can undoubtedly produce the
same more cheaply and perhaps of a bet
ter quality than one who does not. But
there are circumstances which should be
taken into consideration besides quality
and price; for sometimes the convenience
of having thing at hand when it is want
ed is of more value to the farmer than SUI
perior quality or cheapness. We are not
of that class who sigh for the good old
days of homespun cloth that was good
enough for anybody, because the best of
wives and daughters made it, still it can
not be denied that the tendency of the
present generation is toward the opposite
extreme, and there is far too much de-
tendency upon specialists. The nipple
ments that were formerly made upon the
farm are now purchased of manufactur-
ers, and while we do not doubt the superb
GRITTY of these 'boughten'' implements,
still to obtain the money with which to
pay for them is frequently Il serious mat
ter.
Fifty years ago, the pioneer farmer car
ried with him to his new home pear,
apple, peach, and other fruit tree seeds,
knowing that to rear an orchard required
years of precious time, and that he must
begin rs soon as possible. OF course this
seed was very slow one; still there were
many compensations for long delays,
among which we may mention the thou
sands of choice varieties now being prop
agated by our nurserymen and distributed
over the country, bearing the names of the
originators. These would never have
been produced had it not been for the old
Seeding orchards of our pioneers. Muir
series have become so abundant of late
nj a t1 aft
from seed, consequently the pioneer says,
Il will soon be able to purchase the trees
required for my orchard, and | am not
going to spend any time in raising seed
lings.' The nursery agent is sure to come
along in due time, but he wants cash for
his wares, and unless the farmer has this
to spare he must wait, and as Il rule he
does wait as many years for his bearin g
orchard of nursery grown trees as it would
have required to have raised them from
seed, had IA beginning been made the first
season. We do not say this because we
have sympathy for the farmer who is de
| prived of his cider or apple-dumplings,
| for when he neglects to provide such nee
essaries or luXuries, there is no one who
| in strict justice should suffer more; but
| we speak for the wives and children of
| thousands of farmers, who have lived five,
| ten or more years upon their farms and
| have MOI as vet made the first move toward
supplying their families with fruit. The
| same neglect is observable in the vegeta-
| BILE garden, and of this we designed to
speak more particularly than of the or
| chard-
| The catalogues of seedsmen are scatter
| ed over the country by the hundreds OF
thousands annually, and the people are
| informed that whatever seeds are required
| for the garden can he sent by mail very
| cheap There is no use of anybody rails
| ing garden seeds but the regular protcs-
Sional seed grower. He is the man to do
il and give you the best article in the
| market of course adding novelties to his
| list from year To year, although the pur-
chaser finds that they are not always new
or valuable.
| Then the Agricultural Department al
| Washington enters into competition with
the seedsmen and distributes millions OF
| packages free to the constituents Of Con
| gressmen but with all these aids the
| private vegetable gardens of our farmers
are, as whole, sorry looking affairs
! Sometimes the seeds purchased or received