SOME POSSIBILITIES. 



263 



As all plants owe their existence, in the first place, to the seed, reproduc- 

 tion depends wholly upon the seed's power of germination. But germination 

 in its relation to the value of the plant produced, is relative; all depends upon 

 what the plant is grown for. A high power of germination is absolutely neces- 

 sary in one case, while in another, a low percentage of germination is just as 

 important. Weakness of vital power is highly important in many kinds of 

 plants that are grown for the beauty of their flowers. Take, for instance, the 

 Balsam and Zinnia; the weaker the vitality, the more care nature takes to pro- 

 tect the germ that is to perpetuate the species. The flower is increased in size 

 by an additional number of petals to protect the vital spark that is to per- 

 petuate the species. 



It is an open secret that some of the truckers that grow cabbage largely 

 for the New York market never use seed until its germinating power becomes 

 greatly weakened. These men have the reputation of being the most success- 

 ful growers in the country, and sell seed to their neighbors at an exorbitant 

 price. To their shrewdness must be credited the fact of their giving to their 

 neighbors new seed, which will not always give the desired results. The seed 

 these growers use, would be discarded by any dealer, and by those who seem 

 to have authority to place the value of all seeds upon the test of germination. 



The egg plant grown in hot climates produces an enormous quantity of 

 seed of high germinating povi^er, and what would be called a handsome sample. 

 The egg plant grown on Long Island grows to a much larger size, has but few 

 seeds, and these of low germinating power, and have a shrunken, shriveled 

 look, but the growers have no trouble in getting $5 per ounce for the seed, 

 because of the better fruit it produces. An ounce of this seed, that many 

 dealers would reject as worthless, will yield three times the number of barrels 

 of fruit as would the same amount of seed grown at the extreme South. 



Seed which has not reached maturity, may, it is true, possess the power of 

 germination, but it will always retain a disposition to disease and weakness. 

 It is true, that disposition may be so far conquered by a coincidence of favor- 

 able auspices, and by a soil and temperature peculiarly adapted to the require- 

 ments of the plant, that imperfect seeds may produce vigorous and healthy 

 plants ; but there is always great danger of the crop failure, and of the pro- 

 geny's inheriting disease instead of strength. 



So far as we have been able to learn, our most practical and intelligent 

 agriculturists who have paid any attention to the subject, are fully convinced 

 that great advantages arise from sowing the largest and most perfect grains of 

 all cereals. That by systematic care in the selection of the largest and most 

 perfect grains, for seed purposes, the development of the types are perfected. 

 The secret of plant breeding, so far as it relates to the cereals, consists in ever 

 breeding from the highest developed and most prolific types. 



In choosing the seed, a preference should always be given to that which 

 has been grown where the conditions of soil and climate are calculated to bring 

 it to perfection, and that all inferior plants should be eliminated from the field 

 before the harvest. It is highly important to have all the grains selected for 

 seed purposes, uniform and perfectly matured. More important still is it to 

 have the seed saved from a field where the plants are uniformly good, rather 



