of peas, and other seeds, as that paper flower near him, he may perhaps succeed bought up samples of tea and sugar, etc., in obtaining some genuine seed; but if any and publish the results, thus exposing the other kind of cabbage flowers in his own or fraudulent, and establishing the characters his neighbor's garden, he will only reap a of the fair dealers. And if it were possible crop of mules and monsters. And so of to tell, by simple inspection, whether a sam- other things. Seed-saving must therefore ple of seed is adulterated, as is the case be a special occupation, conducted under with articles of food, we would readily un- special circumstances. Crops must be so dertake the office. But the nature of the cut off from all other crops of the same or objects to be examined renders the trial of a similar kind, as to render mixture by seeds for any useful purpose a very difficult muling impossible; and private individuals operation; they must be sown, grown, are not in a position to undertake any such carried up to the state in which they are a task. fit for use, and then, and not earlier, report- The public, therefore, must seek another ed upon-a very different process from remedy, and that remedy is to pay tradesstudying a sample under a microscope. Give men a fair price for what they sell. If a a man of science a pinch of ground pepper, man can not live by his trade and be honest, and in an hour he will tell you that it is he will abandon it; we need not state the made up of capsicum husks, brown mustard converse of the proposition. If the public skins, flour of mustard, sago flour, rice flour, will persevere in the present ruinous race potato flour, ginger dust, and so on. But a after impossible cheapness, the public must pinch of cabbage seed can not be so exam- be content to suffer; and the public richly ined; it may consist of turnip seed, rape deserves it. The public deserves more; for seed, red cabbage, bastard broccoli, run- it renders itself an accomplice in fraud, and away savoys, or any such rubbish; but this is the great tempter who leads weak and can be ascertained only after many weeks low-principled men to the commission of or months. In the case of grass seeds, fraud would be difficult to prove legally, by any process whatever; for if it appears that the worthless annual poa comes up instead of, or among, the perennial poa seed, although there may be a moral conviction that fraud has been practiced, nevertheless there is so much possibility of error from natural accidents, that it would be next to impossible to make a clear case of dishonest dealing. Yet we entertain no doubt that this kind of falsification, that is to say, selling worthless annual for valuable perennial grasses, is of common occurrence.

Then it has been suggested that everybody should be his own seed grower. To us it seems as reasonable to advise that everybody should be his own sugar broker, or his own tea broker, or that every one should weave his own linen, so that he may be sure that the linen is linen, and not cotton in disguise. In the actual state of society, such propositions can not be seriously entertained; we will even add that in no state of society can a man be advantageously his own seed grower, except on the most confined scale. A gardener may have a very fine sort of cabbage, and if he allows no other cabbage or cabbage-like plant to

offenses they would not have thought of.
If a baker loses a loaf of bread, and it is
shown that he so placed it in his window as
to tempt the poor wretch who stole it, that
baker loses his remedy; if a mercer, sus-,
pecting a customer of shoplifting, can be
shown to have intentionally placed goods in
the way of the person suspected, so as to
tempt him to the commission of the offense,
that tradesman finds it difficult to obtain a
conviction, and in the opinion of all right-
minded men, ought to be placed in the dock,
by the side of the criminal himself.

But what is the difference between the baker and the mercer on one hand, and the public on the other? Both are alike tempters to fraud; the first put their goods in the way of the people whose necessity overcomes their sense of right; the second insists upon having goods at a price at which they can not be sold without fraud. In the one case the dealer tempts his customers to dishonesty, in the other case the customers tempt the dealer.

Does any one believe that the poor grocer who incurs the risk of an excise prosecution, and of a fine of £100, by selling a half-penny worth of adulterated pepper, would do so if he could live otherwise?

THE SEED TRADE.

The world does not see the analogy between all these cases; it is more fitting that it should be pointed out. The curse of our age is the eagerness with which everybody attempts to knock down prices beyond that they can bear, if commerce is to remain honest. The economist's maxim "to buy in the cheapest market," is wretchedly misapplied, and Great Britain is the victim. Low about. In the first place, turnip seed may prices must end in low position. Of this at feast we may be sure, that so long as men pray not to be led into temptation themselves, and at the same time fix their whole thoughts upon leading others into temptation, fraud will be triumphant, and gardeners' must suffer like other people.

168

seed must be sown from April 1st to May 1st, in drills half an inch deep and ten inches apart. A few radish seeds should be sown in the drills to distinguish them, so that the weeds may be destroyed before the skirret should appear above the ground. six weeks thin them out to six inches apart. In about Absence of weeds and frequent stirring of the soil, are their principal requisites. They require phosphates and potash. Some gardeners take them up on the approach of a hard frost, and clean and stow them away in sand or dry earth, like the modes recommended for preserving carrots.

own seed? A very natural question; but is it advisable that the division of labor in this case should be done away with? Is it advisable that each farmer should breed his own rams, or that all should be breeders of first-rate bulls? Is it not better that a class should devote their time and attention exclusively to one object for the benefit of others? And will they do so unless by it their own interest is served? If the supply were dependent on farmers alone, would it not be irregular? When keep for sheep and other stock was scarce, there is reason to believe few would be planted for seed, as it can not be judged, as in the case of corn, by the eye; the farmer's customers would be his run up in the spring, and they will flower To save seed, let a few of the old roots neighbors, and if he produced more than in July and ripen their seed in the autumn. they required, would not the old seed remain-Working Farmer. on his hands, and in time reach them in place of new? Is it to be supposed that a small grower would generally take the same trouble with a crop of this description, as a man who made it his sole object? or that he would take pains to produce a new variety during seven or ten years, as a man in a large business will do? It can not be expected; and no farmer will deny that a man like Mr. Skirving, of Liverpool, has done good in raising a superior turnip. In addition to losing the advantage of change of seed, it is very doubtful if it is not more expensive to grow than to purchase a small quantity. A. L."

Skirret.

Tropical Vegetables.

ical Farmer, Ocala, Florida, is already givOUR FRIEND, Lewis Gaines, of the Troping us an earnest of his promise to make us acquainted with some of the valuable products of the Southern Peninsula. Three valuable articles are introduced here from his pages.-ED.

neighbor, Mr. McInstry, tells us it grows best THE CASAVA grows here finely. Our upon our best land, and is as good or better for table use than potatos. fond of it that when once they get a taste Hogs are so SKIRRET is considered a nutritious vege- the field. On rich land, it will make from of it they can with difficulty be kept out of table perennial, a native of Asia, and has three to seven large roots, sometimes four been cultivated in Europe about two hun- to six inches in diameter, and from three to dred years. The roots are composed of six feet long. These are prepared for the long, fleshy tubers, joined together at the table much in the same way sweet potatos head or crown. Skirret is cooked and eaten are. like salsify. The leaves decay in autumn, the arrow root, and it is easily extracted; He says they yield more starch than and the roots continue to be fit for use until after digging and washing roots, he runs the regrowth of early spring. This plant them through the rollers of the sugar mill, may be raised from seed or offsets. vor is not unlike that of the parsnip, and by woody fiber. This he says is the cheapes Its fla- which takes out all the starch, leaving the some is much preferred. Offsets are usu- plan of obtaining the starch from arrow roo, ally taken from the old roots, and planted feeding by means of a sort of shoe construcvery early in the spring before they begin ed for the purpose. The Casava comes from to shoot. The greatest objection to the the eye on the stock, and never from the market gardener in the raising of this root root; the ground is prepared by ploving is, the large space of ground required for its and opening a deep furrow every fou and perfection. scooter two and a half to three feet,dropa half feet, and checked off with a coler or ping one cutting with two or three yes in

Culture. Such soils as are suitable for the carrot would produce the skirret. The

LIQUID MANURE.

each of the checks. But one stalk will come from the cutting; as soon as one eye begins to lead, the balance perish. Cover with the plow or the hoe pretty deep. The cultivation is much the same as corn or cotton; at first plow and hoe and keep clean; as soon as the roots begin to spread, the plowing must be stopped; as the roots all run near the surface, they are easily pulled up in saving by pulling up the stalk. The stalk is saved for seed much like saving sugar cane for seed, by putting in heaps and covering with straw or leaves, and a layer cf dirt. The yield is immense, though the roots are not in a shape to be measured.

THE TANIEB.—Mr. McInstry cultivates for table use the Tanier, a species of flag, with a bulbous and esculent root; when prepared, it is much the same taste of the Irish potato. This is indigenous and grows spontaneously on wet lands. When planted on rich high lands and cultivated, its flavor is much improved. This is a favorite vegetable with those who are accustomed to eat ing it; it yields an abundant crop, and hogs are extremely fond of it.

THE ARROW ROOT is indigenous to south Florida, and is a valuable market crop, as well as one among the best crops for hogs that can be planted; every farmer should have a small patch, if only for his hogs. Of this crop, more at another time.

Liquid Manure.

169

we point out reasons; we find the same class of questions incessantly repeated. Let us hope that the following quotation from the report before us will assist in dispersing the mistiness which still hovers over some portion of the horticultural mind:

"Sir Joseph Paxton collects the manure water from water-closets, horse-dung linings, and various other sources, into large covered tanks; the waste also from a small bath is emptied into one of these, by which means the solution becomes very thin. The liquid so collected passes almost immediately into a state of incipient or partial decomposition, and thus becomes fit for the food of vegetation; when drawn off for use, it is always greatly diluted with water, and never supplied except when the plants are in a state of activity and growth; otherwise he considers the effect would in many cases be prejudicial, rather than otherwise. It is used by him liberally to vine borders, peach-trees, melons, cucumbers, pines and other fruits, with the most powerful and satisfactory results; in fact, the use of plant food in a liquid state, if properly prepared and administered, supersedes in a great degree the necessity for manure in a solid form; and the produce in favor of the liquid greatly preponderates, being both larger in quantity and weight, richer in color, and superior in

flavor.

"These advantages, however, could not be secured with certainty, unless the solution were so prepared as to suit the habits THERE is nothing in the able report of the and requirements of the various plants to Board of Health, of more horticultural im- which it is supplied. This preparation is of portance than the evidence collected on the two kinds :-first, by diluting the liquid suffimode of applying liquid manure. Not that ciently with water to prevent the spongioles it contains anything new upon the subject, of roots becoming glutted with too great a but because what it does contain is well put, supply of food, and secondly, rendering it and ably illustrated. Our own columns of a proper temperature by the addition of bear ample testimony to the difficulty of im- hot water. Pines require the liquid at about pressing upon the minds of gardeners the a heat of 80° Fahrenheit, and other plants extreme importance of employing such flu- in proportion; fruit trees, and other open ids in a state of great dilution; for, notwith- air products, however, do not necessarily standing our repeated warnings, and the require the addition of hot water to the wise practice of their neighbors, men are same extent as in-door produce, but are, still to be found so unintelligent as to insist notwithstanding, much benefited by receivupon using strong liquid manure. "How strong may I make it?" says one correspondent. Of what use is it, if it be weak?" writes another. "Why can't I put on plenty at once, instead of being always at it?" demands a third. In vain we advise, in vain

ing it in a moderately warm state. Experience has, however, shown, that for ordinary crops, sewerage in its usual state is the most valuable manure that has yet been introduced."

The whole art of liquid manuring, is, in fact, comprehended in the foregoing extract.

nure," he adds, "often causes a crop of strawberries to be lost, by forcing the growth of leaves. Liquid may be applied just when the plants are forming their flower buds, and the strength of the manure spent in producing fruit, not leaves. When the plants are bearing, it could be seen to a plant how far the irrigation had extended."

Indeed, it should be obvious, that since liquid manure owes its value to its being in the state in which plants can immediately consume it, to administer it when they are incapable of consuming it, that is to say, when they are not growing, is most absurd. This is, however, a point concerning which more requires to be said than we can today find room for.-London Gard. Chron.

The Early Mandan Corn.
(Zea mays v. præcox.)

Let the manure be extremely weak; it is idle to ask how weak; liquid manure owes its value to matters that may be applied with considerable latitude; for they are not absolute poisons, like arsenic and corrosive sublimate, but only dangerous when in a state of concentration. Gas-water illustrates this sufficiently well; pour it over a plant in the caustic state in which it comes from gasworks, and it takes off every leaf, if nothing worse ensues. Mix it with half water-still it burns; double the quantity once more it may still burn, or discolor foliage somewhat; and if it does not, much of what falls upon the plant is necessarily lost. But add a tumbler of gas-water to a bucketful of pure water, no injury whatever ensues; add two tumblersful, and still the effect is salubrious, not injurious. Hence it appears to be immaterial whether the proportion is the hundredth or the two hundredth of the ferIn his "Genera of North American tilizing material. Manuring is, in fact, a rude operation, in which considerable lati- Plants," Professor Nuttall, who visited the tude is allowable. The danger of error lies Mandans and named this variety, says: on the side of strength, not of weakness."Stem, very low, spathes arising from the To use liquid manure very weak, base of the culm"-in other words, keeping and very often, is, in fact, to imitate nature, than comparatively close to the ground, in acwhom we can not take a safer guide. This cordance with a principle often obtaining is shown by the carbonate of ammonia car- among other plants that extend into severer ried to plants in rain, which is not under- climates-that of shortening their stems.* stood to contain, under ordinary circum- He adds "successfully cultivated by the abstances, more than one grain of ammonia in origines of the Missouri to its sources [?] one pound of water; so that in order to ripening in a climate where no other variety form a liquid manure of the strength of rain- could exist." water, one pound of carbonate of ammonia would have to be diluted with about 7,000 pounds weight of water, or more than three tons. Let us not be misunderstood. We do not mean to say that any such dilution as this is absolutely necessary; we only point to the very significant fact, that in the operrations of nature, dilution is enormously beyond what cultivators usually dream of.

Let such manure be applied only when plants are in a growing state. In addition to Sir Joseph Paxton's evidence, and to the general notoriety of this rule, may be usefully added a statement made by Mr. Mitchell, Lord Ellmere's gardener, and quoted by the Board of Health. This experienced cultivator says:

George Catlin, also, in his "Illustrations of the Manners, Customs and Conditions of the North American Indians," says, "The the Mandans raise a very small sort of corn, ears of which are not longer than a man's thumb. This variety is well adapted to their climate, as it ripens sooner than the other varieties, which would not mature in

so cold a latitude."

It is generally understood that Indian corn indigenously is a tropical plant, though

Thus the bay-berry or wax myrtle, grows two or three times as high in South Carolina as it does in Western New York; and the gigantic live-oak of Florida dwindles to a shrub on the eastern shore of Vir

ginia.

In regard to Indian corn extending into higher latitudes the earliest ears will be the most perfect, and for the kitchen garden, the finest and earliest speci the later be cut off by the frost. So in selecting seeds mens are generally preferred; and though the change of changes in the course of an age may be very confrom year to year may be slight, yet the accumulation

"That he has never seen manure produce so good a crop of strawberries as the liquid (i. e. town and sewer manure,) has this year done at the Worsley Hall gardens." "Ma-siderable.