The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1879-10-17
1857 fIVt
The Pearl Millet Question.

/ have noticed for the past TWO
months. the various opinions by your
relative to pearl nillet;
and from quite number of them have
received no small measure of censure,
as being the means from my article on
the subject published in 1881 of its
having o wide diffusion. / thought it
better to take no notice of the matter
until the season had nearly ended and
the evidence as far as possible was all
in. While I-admit the preponderance
of evidence against the pearl millet, yet
II will be seen that there is at least one
thirdof your correspondents who uphold
it as a valuable crop, and well worthy
of wide cultivation, and who sustain
me fully on what l wrote on the sub
iect. Twin say that the results stated
In nv article were 10per cent. less Hdn
the actual yield, as | preferred to un-
derate, well knowing that many would
fail to reach even what ] claimed for it.
The past season has not been so favora-
BILE for the crop in orr district, yet its
weld has been in every case that has
come uuder my notice, where fair cul
turc was practiced, sufficiently satisfac-
tory to encourage its continuance.
NOW leu lis GAdIllluO lntO7 tlt CuuSts
of the failure which has been the expe-
rience of so many OF your correspond
ents. 1t is we'll known that the past
May 0he month in which it was sown)
was one of the dryest that has almost
ever been experienced in nearly all
parts of the Northern States. No bet
Ter evidense of that.can be had than the
fact that celcry, cabbage and all such
crops as are raised from seed sorn IN
Nay, were never before so scarce, and
that thousands of acres are to-day lying
| idle for want of plants to set out. Now
the same canse-excessive drouth- that
prevented the geiYnination and growth
of cabbage or celery seeds, acted, under
the usual manner of sowing, even more
disastrously on the seed of pearl millet,
which is small, light, and particularly
susceptible of injury from drouth. l
say "under the usual manner of sow
ing" for nine-tepths of all such light
seeds are sown in such n loose way, that
in seasons of drouth they either fail to
terminate altogether, on arc so enfec.
bled by The dry hot air acting on the
seed, that if they do terminate, the vi.
tality is so weakened that, as in the
case of pearl millet, instead of the seed:
sown May 10 giving a growth of sew
en- feet by July l, they would be like
ly perhaps not tolgive a growth of as
many inches. Ali cultivators of expe
rience know that age, Overdrying, OF
any other cause that tends to lessen the
vitality of seeds, is seen in less or more
degree in the plants they produce show
ing weakened growth. The safeguard
against the contingency of dry weather
acting on newly sown seeds is to firm
the soil orer The seeds, after sowing.
| Last season we sowed over three
acres of celery, cabbage and cauliflow
err seeds, and, dry as the season was, had
full crop in each case, and from which
we probably raised five million plants
The method pursued was that which W.
have practiccd for the last ten years
After preparing the ground by thorough
manuring, blowing and narrowing
lines are drawn with "marker" OF
'drag," 8 inches apart, and about
deep. The seeds are sown Tricky b,
hand, and after the man who sows then
follows another, who heavily treads Oh
every inch OF the seeds sown in Tho
drills with his feet. The ground is ther
leveled by raking the rows lengthwisc
which covers'the seed sufficiently. AT
ter the raking roller Is passed over tho
ground, so as to farther firm and smootl
the surface. In our trial or experiment
tal grounds, VIC adopted the same prac
ftice with carrot, cucumber, egg plant
endliye, lcek lettuce, millets of all kinds
okra, onion, parsley, parsncp, pepper,
radish, satisfy, spinach, tobacco, clover
and grass seeds of all kinds, and in nc
one instance did we fail of having full
and complete termination. Had moi
this plan been adopted in such dry
season, probably one-half of them
would never have seen the light. Oh
course, in field culture on large scale
this treadilg in with the feet might moi
be practicable, but the roller, at least
should be used.
The loss from the neglect of this prac.
lice can hardly be estimated. Tens OF
thousands of acres sown with turIiE
seed fail from this cause annually. Oui
climate is peculiar, and the mode OF
practice perfectly safe in Great Britain
is destructive here. With small seeds
which can DO sown in fall or early
spring-such as wheat, rye, clover OF
the grasses-there is no special necessi.
ty for this firming of the soil over seeds
for at those seasons the temperature is
low, and the all moist so that the seeds
will not perish by drying, even if the
soil is left loose. IT is in our hot, dry
tropical summers that the necessity fol
such protection after sowing is imper.
alive. have beenia writer on horticul.
tural subjects for the past 25 years, and
have always been careful never to touch
on subject that had not come under
my own actnal, everyday practice in
my business of florist and market gar
dener. My works on these subjects are
now in the hands of upwards of seven
ty-6ve thousand people of this country,
yet it is probable that not one in ten
persons that have attempted to work by
their teachings have made it a success {;
but | am no more to blame for this than
l am to be blamed for the failure OF
your correspondents to grow pearl mil.
let. 1t is we'll known that in any mer.
camille or manufacturing business moi
more than ten per cent. of those so en-.
gagedsmak e Of either o snccess; how
then, can more be expected from those
operaIing in the garden or the farm,
when, besides The ordinary business re,
quirements, contingent circumstances
of soil or climate may be operating
against them, over which they have nc
control?-lP. Henderson, in Country
een'' assou8 !,
| FATTENING POULTRY FOR MARKET =