SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR-BOOK— PART VIII. 903 



thoroughly. These men have learned that the age of the seeds has a 

 decided influence upon the crop. The ordinary amateur gardener and 

 the average farmer demand new seeds, regardless of the variety which 

 they are purchasing. The expert on the contrary will not accept cer- 

 tain kinds of seeds unless they are several years old. He has found, 

 for instance, that he gets better results when he uses cucumbers seeds that 

 are three years old than if he plants those whose age is but a twelve- 

 month. The latter seeds will result in a greater growth of vine but 

 less fruit. The older seeds will give vines with a smaller amount of 

 vitality, but the fruit will begin to form much earlier. Sometimes this 

 matter of age will mean a difference of two or three weeks in the time 

 of cropping, so that the man who knows this little secret is able to get 

 his cucumbers on the market several days ahead of his neighbor who 

 planted new seeds. 



This does not hold good with all vegetables, however, for it is impera- 

 tive that' seeds not more than 10 or 12 months old be planted for some 

 of the root crops lilve parsnips, otherwise there will be no crop. It is 

 said that as a rule the smaller seeds are hardier than the larger ones. 

 The tiny celery seed will germinate after 10 or 12 years, while corn is 

 good for only about two years. 



The germinating power of a seed depends a good deal upon the latitude 

 in which it is found. lu Eastern Massachusetts a buttercup seed natur- 

 ally germinates in a few weeks, but it requires two full years or nearly 

 that for the seeds of the Greenland buttercup to germinate. The dif- 

 ference is due to the flinty covering of the seed. If a part of this cover- 

 ing be scraped off the seed will manifest its seed life much sooner. 



Naturally as great variation exists among flower seeds as among 

 vegetable seeds. The larkspur seed must go into the ground within a 

 year, but the balsam will germinate at the end of 10 years. An expert 

 flower grower, who lived in one of the suburbs of Boston, a few years 

 ago was noted for the wonderful double blossoms which he annually 

 produced. After a time the secret of his success was disclosed. It was 

 the simple one of planting only seeds which were several years 

 old. By this method he secured flowers which were 80 per cent dou- 

 ble, while year-old seeds planted by other growers did not afford blos- 

 soms more than 50 per cent double. 



Sweetpea seeds a year old seldom contain more than 80 per cent of 

 live germs, and after they have been kept for two years they are of 

 little value. A paragraph has gone the rounds of the papers at inter- 

 vals for several years to the effect that sweetpea plants have been grown 

 in England from seeds found in mummy cases taken from Egyptian 

 pyramids. This statement undoubtedly was made in good faith at first, 

 as several prominent scientists were deceived by a clever imposition. It 

 seems that the seeds actually were found in the mummy case and It 

 was assumed that they had been there as long as the mummified body 

 itself. 2,000 years or more. After a time, however, it developed that 

 some designing person had found a way of getting the seeds inside 

 the mummy cases after tiie tombs in the pyramids had been opened. 

 Some of the seeds were planted at Harvard college and developed plants 



