Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1883-06-09
Planting Small Seeds.

1nere are many FAILURES IN planting
or sowing small garden and farm seeds
from three causes, namely, in not suf
ficiently pulverizing the soil, in bury
ing too deep, and in not COMPRISING
the earth closely about the seeds.
l. Without thorough pulverization
the soil and its moisture can not be
brought into close contact with the
seed, but only few points of the small
clods and Jumps will touch it, and air
creyices be left all about it. The
smaller the seed, the larger will be the
crevices in comparison. Seeds will
not grow buried in stone heap, or in
heap of coarse clods.. The more
nearly the soil is reduced to the condi-
ton Of fine powder the better. Garden
beds should therefore be pulverized
with thorough use of the steel rake.
Manure, when applied, should be thor
oughly broken up and we'll intermixed
In sowing the smaller fower.seeds,
which are not to be covered over half
an inch deep, it is well to pulverize the
earth with the thumb and finger as it is
dropped in the drill. If the soil is not
dry enough for the operation, wait
until it becomes so, and more will be
gained by the delay than by the hasty
covering of fine seeds by wet clods,
A rule has been correctly given, that
a strong soil is never dry enough until
. clOd under the pressure of the boot
is crumbled to powder, instead of
pressed to a soft and yielding mass.
2. Seeds are often buried too deep.
They must never be placed beyond the
reach of air. An old and good rule
is to cover them to a depth varying
from three to five times their diameter.
But this rule will vary with the char
acter of the soil and its condition.
More depth will be required for a dry
than for moist covering, and a great
er depth of sand may be applied than
of compact clay. Seedsmen are some
times falsely charged with selling poor
seeds, merely because the gardener
buried it to such a depth that it
S0ms rather TsErkiSWg f INSTANCES Af If sSss66
mistakes.
3. The soil should be sufficiently
compressed about the seed, otherwise
there would be air-cavities. The
amount of pressure given will depend
on circumstances. If the earth is
finely pulverized, less pressure will be
required than with a coarse or lumpy
soil. A heavier pressure needs to be
given with a dry than moist
soil. 1t is an old opinion that seeds
terminate better if sown just before
a rain than if sown just after a rain.
This may be true when fine soil hal
been previously well pressed about tn
seed. More commonly a coarse sol
has prevented a close packing, and tn
soil having been softened more or les
by a shower, will the more closely en-
case the seed with moderate pressure
If the gardener understands the ration
ale of all these operations, he will b
more likely to avoid mistakes, and t
r meet with uniform success, than if h
3 pursues blind and unconditional rules
In sowing every kind Of seed, an
with different conditions of the sol
, great deal that is really valuable i
j. practice, as we'll as really interesting
may be learned by trying differer
y modes side by side. Bury the seet
] at different depths, and mark eac
portion; observe the condition of tn
y soil as to moisture and fneness; plan
o both before and otter rain, in a con
e monty coarse and in finely pulverize
soil; these experiments, performed sic
: by side, will during the season
e growth convey much valuable instru
d ton to the operator. Country Gent