GET THE VERY BEST. 39 



very foucl of pease, and he always ate the first that came on 

 his vines. Another man loved pease as well as the other ; but 

 still he had some little restraint upon himself, and always 

 saved the earliest of his pease for seed. The result was, that, 

 in a few years, the first man had run his pease out, so that they 

 were neither early nor late ; while the other had developed 

 his pease until they were nearly as large again as the pease he 

 commenced with, merely by restraining his appetite. 



Now, I tell you there is a great deal in restraining the 

 appetite of your animals, if you want to breed good stock. 

 If you have a good animal, and let him run indiscriminately 

 anywhere and everywhere, you will have pretty poor stock, 

 if you have any at all. If you want good stock (and it is 

 the same with the fertilizing powers of the corn), use it 

 judiciously, and use every thing else just in the same 

 manner. 



Mr. Slade. I did not think of saying any thing this 

 morning ; but I regard this matter of saving seeds and im- 

 proving them as one of the utmost importance. It is a 

 matter that has grown on me. Formerly I did not think 

 a great deal about seed. I thought, if I got good seed, that 

 would do. But I recollect asking Capt. Moore a question in 

 regard to Danvers onion-seed some dozen or fifteen years 

 ago ; and he said, " You had better pay fifteen dollars a pound 

 for the very best than to have good seed given you." I 

 thought then that that was an extravagant statement ; but 

 I changed my mind afterwards. I believe, if a man is going 

 to plant an acre of onions, he had better pay fifteen dollars a 

 pound for the best seed than to have good seed given him. 

 If I were going into it next spring as an investment, I 

 would pay that rather than to take good seed for nothing. 

 The matter of improving seeds is something, in my estima- 

 tion, that every one should do for himself: it is something 

 that cannot be very well delegated, and I will tell you why 

 I think so. I think an improved kind of corn, or a new 

 potato, or any thing of that kind that is newly originated, 

 does a great deal better on the soil and in the locality where 

 it is improved, or where it is originated, than it does when 

 it is moved off; for instance, the corn improved by Mr. 

 Comins will do better in the valley of the Connecticut, and 

 may do first-rate there, and still, if bred in Plymouth, be 



