A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School

For seeds as large as sweet peas, it should be half an inch deep. The smallest seeds must be planted very near the surface, and a very little fine earth be sifted over them. Seeds are to be planted either deeper or nearer the surface, according to their size. After covering them with soil, beat them down with a trowel, so as to make the earth as compact as it is after a heavy shower. Set up a stick, in the middle of the circle, with the name of the plant heavily written upon it, with a dark lead pencil. This remains more permanent, if white lead be first rubbed over the surface. Never plant, when the soil is very wet. In very dry times, water the seeds at night. Never use very cold water. When the seeds are small, many should be planted together, that they may assist each other in breaking the soil. When the plants are an inch high, thin them out, leaving only one or two, if the plant be a large one, like the Balsam; five or six, when it is of a medium size; and eighteen or twenty of the smaller size. Transplanting, retards the growth of a plant about a fortnight. It is best to plant at two different times, lest the first planting should fail, owing to wet or cold weather. _To Plant Garden Seeds._ Make the beds a yard wide; lay across them a board, a yard long and a foot wide, and, with a stick, make a furrow, on each side of it, one inch deep. Scatter the seeds in this furrow, and cover them. Then lay the board over them and step on it, to press down the earth. When the plants are an inch high, thin them out, leaving spaces proportioned to their sizes. Seeds of a similar species, such as melons and squashes, should not be planted very near to each other, as this causes them to degenerate. The same kinds of vegetables should not be planted in the same place, for two years in succession. _On