660 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



7 GEORGE V, A. 1917 



Cabbage. — Cabbage should be pulled root and all, and the outside leaves removed. 

 Care is necessary in handling, to avoid the breaking of the long tap-root. 



Celery. — Celery should be lifted with the roots left on, and may be immediately 

 heeled in in a shallow pit, care being taken to remove any diseased stalks and also to 

 throw out any heads that are not true to type. 



Onions. — In selecting onions for seed too much care cannot be given to type. 

 Do not use any that show signs of producing big necks, or thick-necked onions. It 

 would seem that vegetable growers could do much to improve their onion crop by 

 growing their own seed with a rigid system of selection. All growers know how 

 much a good crop of onions depends upon the source of the seed, probably more so 

 than any other vegetable grown. 



PLANTING. 



The land to be used for seed production was thoroughly ploughed in the spring 

 and heavily manured, and the plants set out as soon as possible in early spring. The 

 distances recommended in the different varieties are as follows: — 



Cabbage, carrots and beets should be planted in rows 30 inches apart, with the 

 plants two feet apart in the rows. This may seem rather close, but if placed too far 

 apart the plants are apt to lie down when loaded with seed, whereas if they are fairly 

 close together each will support the other to a large extent. In the case of celery the 

 rows should be the same distance apart, but the plants only one foot apart in the 

 rows, while onions are placed only 6 inches apart in rows 30 inches apart. 



Constant cultivation is necessary at the beginning of the season, especially, but 

 in the case of a slow maturing seed like celery, cultivation may be discontinued in 

 late summer to hasten the maturity of the seed. 



HARVESTINO AND CLEANING. 



The different vegetables require different methods of harvesting, each one being 

 a problem in itself. Probably the simplest crop to handle is that of beet, this vegetable 

 ripening its seed nearly all at once. In harvesting beet seed it is only necessary to 

 remember tp cut it in the green stage, just as it is commencing to turn brovsTi. In 

 order not to jar the plant any more than is necessary it should be cut with a sharp 

 spade just at the ground, thus removing the top part of the root with the stalks 

 attached. The man cutting may be followed by another who ties the cut seed stalks 

 into bundles, he again is followed by a man with a spade who cuts off the attached 

 piece of root, thus leaving the stalks tied in bundles ready for stooking. The stooks 

 should not remain in the field many days before they are threshed, as it is considered 

 better to thresh them slightly in the green stage and allow the seed to ripen after 

 threshing. If only small lots are being handled, a flail will serve for threshing, .if 

 large lots, an ordinary threshing machine serves admirably. 



The seed may be fairly well cleaned by an ordinary fanning mill, but this will not 

 take out all sticks, etc., although grading the seed fairly well. To remove the sticka 

 the seed is put over a revolving endless belt which is on a steep incline, the seed rolling 

 down the belt to a box, while the sticks and dirt are carried on over the other end. 

 Fig. 2 shows the arrangement in use by the Horticultural Division. By using the 

 electric fan the dust and light seed are blown out before it strikes the belt, thus giving 

 a nice clean sample of seed. The apparatus is one that can be readily made by any 

 person who is at all handy with tools and serves excellently for fairly large lots of seed. 



Carrots. — Carrot seed is not as easily harvested as beet seed. Several pickings are 

 necessary in the case of carrots, as the heads all ripen at different, intervals, extending 

 i _ Ottawa. 



