The Portland daily press., 1876-04-17
THE PRESS.
THE FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Plant Large Seeds.

Plant Large Seeds.
We regard this as safe rule to he adopted,
although it may admit some modification in
those cases where increased size in the seed
and crop is accompanied by corresponding
depreciation in quality. As the seed con.
tains within itself not only the future plant
but store of food upon which it must sub
sist, and supply of preservatives and de-
fences against decay and the attacks of in
sects, it would seem that the larger its ca
paclty in these several directions the better
chance 1t afforded to the plant not only for
existence but for vigorous vitality. The
roots which start from plump and healthy
seed will penetrate the earth and bring up
nourishment with aproportionate strength;
and the stalk which rises up into the air and
light will expand its foliage and drink in life
from the atmosphere exactly in accordance
with its seminal surroundings. So far as
resistance to unfavorable circumstances is
concerned the extremes of drouth and moist
ure, or heat and cold, it must be that the
large, well-developed seeds full of strength
and inner life, will be enabled to overcome
them all; while the smaller, and therefore
feebler ones, will gradually give up and die.
If we wished after the Chinese method to
dwarf plant, we should do it by cutting off
its supplies Of nourishment, and by dimin-
ishing and shrinking the avenues through
which it was received. Or, if we desired to
create and perpetuate some diseased or de-
formed popularity in leaf or flower, we should
attack the plant ia the seed or the root, or
at its first development. Kidney beans will
terminate with only one cotyledon, and oaks
also terminate in the same state; gourds
have been robbed of the radicle, and also the
plumule, as they shoot forth, and yet ger
mination has proceeded ;but the plants pro-
duced in all these cases were small and deli
cate and never came to perfection.
We naturally infer from such experiments,
that defect or deficiency in the seed produces
similar conditions in the plant; and therefore
in order that we may raise healthy and vigor-
GUS plants, we must begin by selecting seed
In its full perfection. Whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap" "Men do
not gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from
thistles." That like produces like is as true
in the vegetable, as in the animal kingdom.
If the first well-developed seeds of plant
are selected and sown for several years, the
offspring will mature earlier; and eventually
new variety will be secured with fixed
early habit. If we select the longest pods of
a bean and plant the seed, we shall find the
cfcp true to its parentage, and more prol-
fic sort will in time be established.
The results of recent experiments con-
Quoted by scientific men 10 Scotland, and Ger
many, demonstrated conclusively the superior
value of large seeds. Beans and peas were
among the varieties tested, small and large
seeds were planted in adjacent rows-the
beans IL inches apart each way; and the peas
In rows 10 inches apart, and inches apart in
the row. From the time of seed-sowing, un
til harvesting; the growth of the plants was
carefully watched and compared, and in
whatever way the comparisons are made and
however close the measurements the advan-
tage is always found on the side of the plants
from the large seed. In the outset, a large
part of the small seed failed to terminate, or
tosend the young plants up through the earth:
not from any imperfection as might be sup
posed, for tests before planting, proved that it
sprouted as well as the larger seed, but from
simple lack of strength and vitality. When
the leaves were unfolded, the plants from the
large seed had the larger number; they also
blossomed first. and the height of the plants
was greater at two different measurements
and they produced greater number of pods,
and more ripe seeds of the first quality, and
less of the second quality.
One experimentor who made three classes
of his seed-smal, medium and large-found
that 100 plants of each class, on about the
same space, yielded a product in the propor-
ton of 8, II and Is. He also discovered that
from the small seed three times as much seed
had been injured by insects, or imperfectly
developed, and from the medium twice as
much, as an equal weight of the crop from
the large seed. That it would be poor econ
omy for farmer to attempt to supply the
deficiencies of sowing larger amount, was
also demonstrated; for when equal weights
of each Of the three sizes of seed, which quail
tiles would of course include larger number
OF the smaller seeds than the larger,
were sown on three plots of the same size,
the crops were: from 100 plants each-small
seed 8 ounces; medium, 1916 ounces; large,
22.5 ounces. Reckoning also the qualityof the
crop, and the value of the best seed would be
still more increased. From some of the per-
sons engaged in these experiments,
the statement comes that the pro-
ducer may at least double his crop of peas
from the same area by using proper care in
the selection of seed.
We presume that few experiments of a
similar character would give our readers
equally satisfactory and convincing results.
April en- the Farm,
The work of the farm will soon begin in
earnest, and after the rest of the winter we
DO not know that it is to be regretted. Work
Is by no means the worst of life. In fact it is
positive blessing. Without work, mental
or physical activity, life would go hard with
must of us who have been busily occupied
through long series of years. Those who
keep up the most constant bodily activity are,
as rule, the happiest, and SO we should hail
the season of active labor on the farm as a
positive blessing, and not as hardship.
1nefe Is an INFINITE variety OF things that
can probably employ our time now. To say
nothing OF pioughing, which can be begun
during this month, the work of pitching over
and mixing or composing manures can be
done with advantage. especially where there
Is a barn cellar to work in, and this will great
~ facilitate the work of spring. Farm yard
manures, especially where various substances
have been added by way of litter for stock
or for any other purpose, are greatly i'm
proved by forking over and mixing into
homogeneous mass.
So far as the effect on the land is concerned
1t is better to spread coarse manures broad
cast and harrow them in than to apply them
IN the hill for potatoes or corn. The old style
OF manuring that prevailed almost universally