Books and Currfint Literature. 301 



ing good crops of uniform pods, the best beans from the two lots, 

 having been found to be exactly alike, were combined, and the 

 seed grown from them distributed among the seedsmen, to be 

 sold to the retail trade. 



BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE. 



Of the numerous recent contributions on the subject of seed 

 growing, we have selected for review a paper by Dr. W. W. 

 Tracy (Bu. PI. Ind. Bull. No. 184) on The Production of Vege- 

 table Seeds. In the present instance an attempt will be made to 

 select enough of tlie salient points to report, largely in the words 

 of the author, the most important features of the paper as a rec- 

 ord of scientific experiment and experience. 



A seed is defined as essentially "a plant packed for trans- 

 portation." Its good appearance as to cleanliness, plumpness 

 and color is a desirable quality, but one that may be quite mis- 

 leading as to comparative value. In Red Valentine Beans, for 

 example, a plump, full, symmetrical bean of a bright red color is 

 apt to go with inferior varietal quality, while a twisted, unsym- 

 metrical shape and a dull color are generally indications of a 

 pure stock. 



That every grain will under favorable conditions develop 

 into a healthy plant would be regarded by many who have little 

 horticultural experience as the most important of all qualities. 

 But of two lots of seed in one of which 60 to 75 per cent of the 

 grains wdll develop into plants which are typical of the variety, 

 while the remainder will not germinate at all, and in the other, 

 though every seed is viable, only 10 or 20 per cent of them will 

 produce typical plants of the sort, the others developing into a 

 medley of different forms and qualities, the first lot, though only 

 60 to 70 per cent viable, is decidedly the most satisfactory and 

 valuable. 



Passing from these and various other interesting considera- 

 tions of a general nature, the author takes up specifically the 

 growing of sweet corn for seed, discussing first the infiuence of 

 location on quality. 



The qualities of sweetness and tendernesss, as well as earli- 

 ness of maturity, in green com are influenced by soil and climatic 

 conditions, but there is a diffference of opinion as to how far this 



