for two hours, in which is infused 1 oz. of salt petre; then dry the seed, and add currier's oil sufficient to wet the whole; after which mix it with plaster of Paris, so as to separate and render it fit for sowing.

In the summer season, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, &c. are particularly subject to the ravages of grubs and caterpillars; to prevent this wholly, is perhaps impossible, but it is not difficult to check these troublesome visitors; this may be done, by searching for them on their first sppearance, and destroying them. Early in the morning grubs may be collected from the earth, within two or three inches of such plants they may have attacked the night previous. The approach of caterpillars is discoverable on the leaves of Cabbages, many of which are reduced to a thin white skin, by the minute insects which emerge from the eggs placed on them; these leaves being gathered and thrown into the fire, a whole host of enemies may be destroyed at once; whereas, if they are suffered to remain, they will increase so rapidly, that in a few days the plantation, however extensive, may become infested; now, when once these arrive at the butterfly or moth stage of existence, they become capable of perpetuating their destructive race to an almost unlimited extent. The same remarks apply to all other insects in a torpid state. Worms, maggots, snails or slugs, may be driven away by sowing salt or lime in the Spring, in the proportion of from two to three bushels per acre, or by watering the soil occasionally with salt and water, to the quantity of about two pounds of salt to four gallons of water; or the slug kind may be easily entrapped on small beds of plants, by strewing slices of turnip on them late in the evening; the slugs or snails will readily crowd on them, and may be gathered up early in the morning (before sunrise) and destroyed.

If it be necessary at any time to sow seeds in dry weather, it is recommended to soak the seeds in water mixed with sulphur. This practice, with attentive watering, will cause the seed to vegetate speedily.

Many kinds of seeds, such as Asparagus, Capsicum, Celery, Fetticus, Leek, Lettuce, Onion, Parsnip, Parsley, Rhubarb, Salsify, Spinage, and other light seeds, will not vegetate freely unless the ground be watered or rolled; where there is no roller on the premises, the following may answer for small beds as a substitute: after the seed is sown and the ground well raked, take a board (or boards) the whole length

of the bed, lay them flat on the ground, beginning at one edge of the bed, walk the whole length of the board, this will press the soil on the seed, then shift the boards till you have thus gone over the whole bed. In the absence of boards, tread

in the seed with your feet, or strike on the beds with the back of your spade or shovel.

If it should be requisite to transplant any thing when the ground is dry, the transplanting should be always done as soon as the earth is fresh turned over, and the roots of the plants should be steeped in mud made of rich compost, before they are set out.

I have, in most cases, recommended seeds to be sown in drills drawn from eight to twelve inches apart, in preference to sowing broadcast, because the weeds can be more easily destroyed by means of a small hoe; and which, properly used, greatly promotes the growth of young plants.

The following table may be useful to the gardener in show. ing the number of plants, or trees, that may be raised on an acre of ground, when planted at any of the under-mentioned distances.

The preceding table may serve as a guide to such as are not expert in arithmetic, in laying out a garden, as it shews at one view many proportions of an acre of land, in squares of different dimensions. The last line, for instance, shews, that if forty-eight trees be planted on an acre, each thirty feet apart, that there may be forty-eight beds of thirty feet square, or thirty beds of forty-eight feet square, formed from the same quantity of land. An allowance of about one-eighth must however, be made from the above calculation for walks and paths.

The table may also serve to show the gardener how to dispose of any given quantity of manure, that may be allot

ted for an acre of ground. If, for instance, it requires three hundred and two trees to plant an acre, when placed twelve feet from each other, it will require as many heaps of manure to cover the same quantity of ground, if dropped the same distance apart. It therefore follows, that if one hundred loads be allowed to the acre, each load must be divided into three heaps. If seventy-five loads only be allowed, every load must be divided into four heaps, and so on in proportion to the quantity allowed. But if the gardener should choose to drop his heaps, five paces, or fifteen feet apart, he may make such distributions of his loads as to have one hundred and ninety-three heaps on the acre of land; in which case, by dividing each load into four heaps, he will require only forty-eigh loads to cover the acre, and he may decrease the quantity still more, by allowing greater distances from heap to heap, or by dividing his loads into smaller proportions, so as to accommodate himself to whatever quantity of manure he may allot to cover any given quantity of ground.

As it may not be generally known that some species of seeds are apt to lose their vegetative qualities much sooner than others, the following hints are subjoined as some rule for the gardener's government, provided the seeds are care. fully preserved, and not exposed to excess of heat, air, or dampness:

Parsnip, Tomatoe, and Rhubarb seeds, cannot be safely trusted after they are a year old.

Beans and Peas of different species, Capsicum, Carrot, Cress, Leek, Nasturtium, Okra, Onion, Salsify, Scorzonera, and small Herb seeds in general, may be kept two years.

Artichoke, Asparagus, Egg-plant, Endive, Fetticus, Lettuce, Mustard, Parsley, Skirret and Spinach seed, may with care be preserved three years.

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Celery, Kale, Radish, and Turnip seed, will keep four years, if properly attended to.

Beet, Cucumber, Gourd, Melon, Pumpkin and Squash, also Burnet, Chervil, and Sorrel seeds, have been known to grow freely when five and even seven years old; but it is not prudent to venture seed in the garden, of the soundness of which we are not certain.

In order to put such on their guard as may attempt to raise seeds either for their own use or for the market, I would observe that great care is necessary, as it is an indubitable fact, that if seeds of similar species be raised near each other,

degeneracy will be the consequence; it is, therefore, difficult for any one man to raise all sorts of seeds, good and true to their kind, in any one garden.

If roots of any kind become defective, they are unfit for seed, as the annexed fact will show. I once planted for seed some beautiful orange-coloured roots of Carrots, but as they had been previously grown with some of a lemon-colour, they produced seed of a mixed and spurious breed, and as this is not a solitary instance of degeneracy from the like cause, I have come to the conclusion, that, as in the animal frame, so it is in the vegetable system-disorders very frequently lay dormant from one generation to another, and at length break out with all their vigour; I would therefore advise seed growers not to attempt to "bring a clean thing out of an unclean," but if they find a mixture of varieties amongst their seed roots, to reject the whole, or they will infallibly have spurious seeds.

THE garden Artichoke, a native of the South of Europe, is much cultivated for the London and Paris markets. It is a perennial plant, producing from the root annually its large squamose heads, in full growth, in June or July, until October or November. The Globe Artichoke, which produces large globular heads, is best for general culture, the heads being considerably larger, and the eatable parts more thick and plump.

Both sorts may be raised from the seed, or young suckers taken from old plants in the spring. A plantation of Artichokes will continue to produce good heads six or seven years, and sometimes longer; but it must be observed, that if a supply of this delicious vegetable be required throughout the season, a small plantation should be made from suckers every spring, for a successive crop, as the young plants will continue to produce their heads in perfection, after the crops of the old standing ones are over.

The most likely way to obtain a supply of Artichokes from seed, is to sow the seed in the latter end of March, or early in April, in a bed of good rich earth, or it may be planted in drills one inch deep, and about twelve inches apart. The ground should be light and moist, not such as is apt to