to possess more vigour, when they are fed with old than with new oats. “VII. 1. The preservation of seeds next demands our attention. Those seeds which are liable to lie upon the ground, as peas and corn, when thrown down by stormy or wet seasons, should be gathered rather ealier; lest they should begin to germinate, as they lie upon the ground, and would hence become a kind of malt after drying. Other seeds should be gathered, before they would spontaneously fall from their pericaps, to prevent the loss which must otherwise ensue in the reaping, or mowing, and carrying them to the barn, which of ten amounts to as much as is necessary to sow the land, which produced it, as well as to supply the depredations of birds, insects and vermin. "Mons. B. G. SAGE accuses the farmers of some parts of France of collecting their wheat with many green weeds immediately after reaping it, and pressing it close together in their barns; by which the stack undergoes a fermentation with great heat like some haystacks; and that the corn is by this fermentation killed, and will not grow when sown like hay-seeds from a fermented hay-stack; and also that the gluten, or vegeto-animal matter of the corn is destroyed; and it, on that account, makes less agreeable and less wholesome bread; and lastly, that the straw is much injured by becoming mouldy. Journal de Physique, September, 1794. "Mons. B. G. SAGE adds, that the following process will discover whether wheat has been thus injured, which may be interesting both to the baker, and wheat buy er, who wants it for seed-wheat. Make a paste with flour and water, then wash it with your hands under water, which must be frequently changed, till it no longer becomes discoloured. The substance remaining on the hands is the gluten; if the corn be good, this is elastic, and will contract when drawn out; if the corn has begun to heat, it is brittle; if the corn has fermented, none of the gluten will be obtained. "In this country, where corn is seldom cut too early, or pressed together on the stack, the principal circumstance required is to keep it dry; as the straw is not liable to ferment like new hay made with young grass, which contains sugar at every joint of the stem. To preserve a stack of wheat dry, a good cover of thatch may seem sufficient; but as this is liable to injury by vermin, it would be an additional security, if at the time of making the stack the sheaves were laid highest in the middle, and lower on every side, so that if any wet should find its way into the stack, it might drain onwards along the straw of the sheaves, which would thus act like thatch throughout the whole stack. "There are instances of great durability of seeds, which have been preserved dry, and secured from either so great heat or so great cold, as might destroy their life or organism. Thus there is an account of the seeds of Indianwheat, which grew well in a hothouse after having been kept 34 years, as was accurately ascertained. Bath Society, vol. v. p. 464. And it has been lately asserted, that many seeds of more than 100 years old, which were found in some old herbarium at Vienna, have been made to germinate by the use of oxygenated muriatic acid and water. Philos. Mag. But if the organic life of a seed be destroyed by frost, or fire, or mechanic injury, putrefaction succeeds, and decomposition; as when the organic life of an egg is destroyed by violently agitating it, it is known soon to putrefy. "To preserve seeds in barns or granaries our principal attention should be first to make them dry; and secondly, to keep them dry; because no seeds can vegetate without moisture. The art of drying most seeds must consist in duly ventilating them, especially on dry days; which may be done by frequently turning over the heaps of them and to preserve them dry in this climate the door and windows of granaries should open to the south to receive the warmth of the sun, with apertures round the building for sufficient ventilation: which must be prevented from admitting rain or snow by sheltering boards on the outside. "The heaps of corn should be surrounded with boards to keep them from contact with brick or stone walls; which, when warm moist south-west winds succeed cold north-east winds, are liable to precipitate the moisture from the atmosphere by their coldness, and to communicate it to all bodies in contact with them. For a similar purpose in stables some have put up a tall wooden trunk from the chamber to the room below, three or four feet square, and 10 or 12 feet high, with a sliding valve to draw out the corn below, which is poured in at the top; in three or four places a tin or wooden pipe full of holes is made to pass horizontally through the box to give air to the corn, the whole of which, when any of it is drawn out below, is moved in descending; and new surfaces of corn are applied to the air-holes of the horizontal tubes. "The most secure way of preserving a great quantity of wheat, according to Mr. TULL, is by gently drying it on a hair-cloth malt-kiln, with no other fuel but clean straw, and no greater heat than that of the sunshine. In this situation the wheat remained from four to twelve hours, according the previous dampness of it. Mr. TULL knew a farmer in Oxfordshire who purchased wheat, when it was cheap, and kept it by thus drying it for many years, and made a large fortune by selling it again in dearer seasons. The life of the seed was not destroyed by this pro cess; as he asserts, that some of it grew, which had been kept in this manner seven years; whereas in drying potatoes on a malt-kiln so great heat was employed as to destroy their life, and violent pu trefaction ensued. "2. A due ventilation also, where corn is kept in the common warmth of the atmosphere of this climate, is necessary, except in seasons of frost, and also the admission of light; as otherwise the vegetable mucor, called mould, is liable to grow upon the corn, and injure it; as this mucor like some other funguses will grow, where there is little or no change of air, and without light, as in cellars, if there be sufficient moisture and warmth. "3. Another method of preserv ing seeds may consist in secluding them from heat, as in granaries beneath the soil; which are so deep or so well covered with earth, as not to be affected by the difference of seasons. Thus there have been instances of mustard-seed producing a crop on digging up earth, which had not been removed for many years, and, as was believed, even for ages. And in ice-houses it is probable, that not only seeds might be long preserved, but perhaps fruits also; if they were afterwards very gradually thawed by putting them into cold water, that they might not be destroyed by the too great stimulus of sudden heat. "4. Where it has been necessary suddenly to collect and to preserve great heaps of corn, without shelter, for the provision of armies, some have moderately moistened the upper surface of the heap daily, which has occasioned the upper grains to grow, and thus to produce a sward or turf over those below; which, it is said, has thus preserved the lower part of the magazine. But in respect to granaries for the purpose of laying up very large quantities of grain to prevent famines in scarce years, I suppose the stacks of covetous farmers, who keep their corn in cheap years, hoping to sell it at a better price in scarce ones, is a more certain method, and a cheaper one to the public, to keep up a sufficient stock of corn, than by any other experiment that can be devised. "5. Gardeners in general prefer new seeds to old for their principal crops, as they are believed to come up sooner, and with greater certainty, and to grow more luxuriantly. But peas and beans of a year old,' Mr. Marshall observes, are by some preferred to new, as not so likely to run to straw. And cucumbers and melons are best to be several years old, in order to their shooting less vigorous ly, and thence becoming more VOL. V. fruitful. But this principle is carried too far by some gardeners, who say these seeds cannot be too old, and will allow 10 years to be within bounds: three for cucumbers, and four for melons, however, is age enough. As to the age of seeds, at which they may be sown, it is uncertain, and depends much upon how they are kept; those of cucumbers and melons are good a long time, because very carefully preserved. • Peas and beans will germinate very well at seven years of age; but the seeds of lettuces and kidney-beans, and some others, are not to be depended upon after a year or two; and, generally speaking, the smaller seeds are of the least duration.' MARSHALL on Gardening. "6. Where seeds of a perishable nature are to be carried to, or brought from, distant countries, I suspect that covering them in sugar would be the most certain and salutary method of preserving them; and even, that flesh meat, cut into thin slices, and covered with sugar, or syrup, or treacle, would be better preserved than in brine, and afford a much more salutary nourishment to our sailors. "Since I wrote the above, I have seen a paper in the Transactions of the Society of Arts, vol. xvi. from Mr. SNEYDE, of Belmont in Staffordshire, who having observed some seeds, which came accidentally amongst raisins, to grow readily, directed many seeds to be sent from the West-Indies, covered with raisins, and others in sugar, and others in the usual manner of sending them, and found, that those immersed in sugar or covered with raisins, both looked well, and grew LL readily; whereas many of the others would not vegetate. "Since the powder of fresh burnt charcoal is known so powerfully to absorb all putrid vapours, it is probable the seeds mixed with and covered with charcoal-dust, which has been recently burnt, or not long exposed to the air, might be successfully employed for the preservation of seeds either in long voyages, or in domestic granaries. the early autumn; and though all seeds vegetate better, when placed but a little beneath the surface of the soil, as one inch, because they have then a better supply of atmospheric air, which may be necessary for their first growth, before they have acquired leaves above ground; yet as many foreign seeds may not be sufficiently hardy to bear our inclement winters, it may be necessary, as some believe, to bury them an inch and a half, or two inches, deep in the soil, to prevent the frosts from doing them injury, as well as to preserve them from the depredations of birds. And the drill semination, or sowing all kinds of seeds in rows, is the most convenient method for sowing them “VIII. 1. To sow seeds advantageously, it is probable, that those of our native plants might be suffered to drop on the surface of the earth in autumn, or to fall from their parent plant, covered only by their deciduous leaves, in which situation their fruit might contribute to nourish them, as our at a determined depth, and also crabs and sloes; or defend them from insects, as the acrid husk of the walnut; or from birds, as the hard stones or shells of nuts and cherries, since this is the process of nature. for the purpose of keeping the young plants clear from weeds by the more easy application of the hoe. "To sow many seeds earlier than is usually practised, is much "But when the seeds brought recommended. There is a paper originally from other climates are by Lord ORFORD in Mr. Young's to be sown, an attention is requir- Annals of Agriculture, vol. ix. p. ed to the circumstance of season 385, who seems to have found and of soil. Those which will considerable advantage by sowing ripen their seeds in the same year, barley so early as the seventh of are to be sowed in the early February, three and an half bushspring, and covered lightly with els on an acre. But, as much earth to preserve them from birds moisture, with or without subseand insects; and should be buried quent frost, is more liable to dethus beneath the soil, soon after stroy the embryon in its very ear it has been ploughed or dug, as ly state in the seed, than after it its interstices are then replete with has shot out roots and a summit, atmospheric air; which may be and thus acquired some habits of necessary to stimulate into elevation life; this early sowing must some the plume of the embryon plant; times be practised with caution. as the moisture of the earth is Seeds may, nevertheless, be sown necessary to stimulate the rept still earlier in hot-houses, or in into its elongation downwards..... warm situations, as peas, beans, Those seeds nevertheless, which wheat, and may be afterwards will not perfect their vegetation transplanted in the vernal months in the same year must be sown in with safety and advantage. "The difficulty of determining the others may do well, and there the best season for sowing seeds is no loss of ground or time; and in the spring, owing to the varia- if all succeed they do very well.... tion of the weather in the same Radishes and spinach are comlatitude, as well as laying down the monly sown together by the comexact seasons for sowing in differ- mon gardeners, and many manœuent latitudes, occasioned LINNEUS vres of inter-cropping are made to construct what he terms a calen- by them, as the sowing or plantdar of Flora; which was afterwards ing between rows of vegetables adapted to this climate by STIL- that are wide asunder, or presentLINGFLEET; which consisted in ly to come off, or in the alleys of observing the first appearance of things cultivated on beds. the root scions, or flowers of the uncultivated native vegetables; with directions to sow the cerealia, or harvest seeds, when such plants or flowers became visible. By attention to such observations on the uncultivated native plants in many climates, it is probable that ingenious tables might be produced, which might direct the best time of sowing the useful seeds in all latitudes, and in all situations. "Another table of the climates, where plants grow naturally, and of their native situations in respect to moisture or dryness, hill or valley, with the kind of soil where they were originally found, might also contribute to their successful cultivation. "2. In the gardens near large towns, where the land is more valuable and better manured, gardeners sometimes sow two or three kinds of seeds on the same ground, for the purpose of economy........ Thus Mr. MARSHALL observes, that, on the same ground they sow radishes, lettuces, and carrots; the radishes are drawn young for the table, the lettuces to plant out, and a sufficient crop of carrots is left; for carrots, if you wish them to be large, should not grow very near to each other. "In defence of this mode of culture it is said, if one crop fails, "Thus if a piece of horse-radish be new planted; it may be topcropped with radishes or spinach, &c. or if a piece of potatoes be planted wide, a bean may be put in between each set in every, or every other, row; a thin crop of onions upon new asparagus beds, is a common practice, drawing them young from about the plants." Introduction to Gardening. RIVINGTON. "The farmer likewise, in the cultivation of grasses for feeding sheep, finds an advantage in sowing a mixture of seeds on the same ground, as rye-grass, trefoil and clover, which are said to succeed each other in respect to the production or maturity of their herbage. And, for the purpose of preventing smut, it may be useful, as I have before observed, to sow in the same ground, in separate rows, two kinds of wheat, one of a forwarder nature than the other; whence if the farina of one kind should be injured by wet weather, that of the other may impregnate the ears of both. The two kinds of wheat recommended are bearded and smooth-headed wheat, which are called by farmers cone wheat and Lammas wheat; of both of which there are many varieties, and it is asserted, that one third of cone wheat is frequently sown with two thirds of Lammas |