Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-04-16

1t may be well to remind some of our
younger readers of the three requisites for
starting the seeds of early sown vegetables
Let the soil be well pulverized, sufficiently
moist, and do not plant too deep. The seeds
OF such plants as parsneps, peas, lettuce, &c,
which are not cut down by frost may be
safely planted as early as the ground is ready.
The soil must he well pulverzed, and neither
in Jumps nor in wet adhesive mass This
il the first requisite. 1t must be sufficiently
moist, which is nearly always the case early
in the spring without much care. The third
point is not to plant too deep. Seeds are
sometimes buried beyond the reach of the air,
and lie dormant, or rot. Many sorts buried
three or four inches under the surface are in
no better condition than if thrown away. If
only an inch, nearly all will grow Seedsmen
are sometime denounced for selling bad seed.
merely because the purchaser has placed
them where they cannot terminate The
shallower should be the covering, and the
best mode is by sitting fine earth over them.
The depth will of course vary. but the best
general rule is never to cover them more than
five times their diameter in depth less
is better. They will come up frequently at n
greater depth, but Il long time will be requir-
ed, and the plants for time will be feeble.
4 greater depth is admissible in a sandy than
iii heavy or Glayey soil A light pressure
may be made on the surface, after the seeds
are planted, and heavy one, even to the
tread of the foot, on dry soil. Peas will
come up from a considerable depth and will
succeed better and longer than when planted
shallow If young gardeners will experiment
at different depths with various seeds, and
with various degrees of compression of the
surface, they will soon acquire more of good
practical knowledge on the subject than by
volumes of written directions; and such exper-
iments are very easily made, care being taken
to keep record of all the various paintings to
prevent mistakes of memory
1t happens often that heavy soils are kept
too wet to work to advantage until the oppor-
tunity for sowing early has passed. If the
ground has been previously prepared, so that
it presents a clean surface, the sowing may be
made directly on the top, without disturbing
it, or making drills, covering the seeds by sift-
ing on them dry and pulverized soil from
some dry or sheltered spot (the operator
standing on board, and in this case one
half of the usual depth will answer, as they
will obtain n supply of moisture freely from
below, and a tiue covering need not be so
thick as a coarse one. In all cases. pressing
the surface is useful aud renders termination
more certain by bringing the moist particles
in closer contact with the seed-provided it is
not sufficient to cause the earth to adhere in
mass and become baked hard when it dries.
Careful observation and practice will soon en-
able any one to know just when the right de
gree of pressure is used. Much less is need
ed for early sown seeds than for the tenderer
kinds month or two later, when dry and
warm weather may have set in.
Mistakes are often made by supposing
seeds always grow best if the sowing is fol-
lowed by rain On the contrary, they more
frequently succeed better if sowed after rain.
On a soil already wet enough the operation
should be performed before rain, as it may be
too plastic afterwards. But when the earth
inclines to be rather dry and crumbles into
hard, small Jumps, these prevent close con-
tact with the seed, and are in better condition,
aud crumble finer after being moistened by n
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