84 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
or carpets, but care must be taken that they do not become 
bruised before storing. Sweet potatoes may be packed in 
layers in dry sand, wheat chaff, or charcoal, and kept in a 
warm cellar. 
Tomatoes may be saved for winter use not only by can- 
ning but also by storing. They should be picked as they 
begin to turn, leaving the stems on and taking care not to 
bruise them. The fruits should be packed in a barrel or 
box in clean dry sand, being placed some distance apart and 
kept in a dry cool cellar. Fruits which fail to ripen before 
frost may be taken indoors and ripened, or ripening upon 
on may be hastened a week or 10 days by bagging the 
ruit. 
SEED FOR 1918 
The selection and saving of seed should ordinarily be left 
to the specialist whose knowledge and working conditions 
enable him to produce the best stock at the least expense 
and effort. However, on account of the threatened scarcity 
of supply, it may be desirable for the amateur gardener to 
grow and save the seed for next year’s crop. 
It is of course essential that the plants which are to be 
saved for seed should receive the best of care and should 
grow under conditions favoring the most perfect develop- 
ment of fruits. It often happens that a very poor plant 
— one or two very superior fruits, but it would be 
ound that the characters of the entire plant are more likely 
to be perpetuated than those of individast fruits. Thus, a 
plant producing a large quantity of uniform-sized tomatoes 
is better to select from than one which has one branch bear- 
ing very large fruit, while the other branches have small 
fruit or none at all; also, small potatoes from a productive 
hill give better results than large ones from unproductive 
hills. A common mistake is made in harvesting the entire 
crop and then selecting at hazard from it. 
Seeds should not be harvested until fully ripe but the 
harvesting should start promptly to avoid discoloration. 
Seeds are ripe when the seed receptacles become yellow or 
the fruits attain full coloration and begin to lose firmness. 
Seeds that require threshing, like beans or peas, should be 
harvested during bright sunny weather. The fleshy fruits 
should first be mashed to get rid of all superfluous water. The 
pulp with seeds is then thrown into a receptacle containing 
water, where it remains in a state of fermentation for 2 or 
3 days, this being necessary to loosen the mucilaginous coat 
from the seeds. After fermentation the seed are separated 
