THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE 171 
related varieties of garden plants ofttimes make all the difference in 
the value, and this to an extent that is the very life of the seed trade 
itself. We may take for an example a variety of broccoli that will 
not flower until very near the time when cauliflowers are ready for 
the table. Such a broccoli is then of immense value, and by every 
day that it flowers earlier or later than the season it is grown for, 
by so much is its value lessened; yet, as respects the plant, how 
slightly does it differ in constitution from others that are ready with 
the glut in the month of April! The battle of the early peas, in 
which we were so much interested a few years ago, turned upon the 
question of a few days only in the date of gathering the first crop. 
Yet those few days were of such immense importance that the 
relative commercial value of the competing varieties depended 
almost wholly upon the decision as to their respective earliness. It 
is to be expected that seed-growers should understand these points, 
and so they do. Nine-tenths of the “novelties” offered us are 
simply improved strains of old-established varieties, the result much 
more of the employment of keen eyes and experienced judgment in 
selecting than of hybridizing or cross-breeding. It is because the 
seed-grower makes it his business to secure true stocks, and to 
originate improved stocks, and to prevent degeneracy, that, asa 
rule, it is far better to purchase seed for private gardens than to 
grow it at home, and this is more especially the case in respect of 
nearly-related varieties of extensive families of kitchen-garden 
plants. Not only has the seed-grower the advantage of experience 
and skill in his own particular line, but he has the advantage of 
circumstances; for it is a matter of fact that many of our most 
valued esculents can only be kept true to the particular characters 
for which we value them by growing the seed in large quantities ; 
for when small and far-separated patches or single plants are left to 
seed it commonly happens that the strain is lost. 
The necessity of growing large quantities of particular varieties 
in order to maintain their special characters intact, is especially 
exemplified in the case of turnips, cabbages, and broccolis. A few 
plants of any of these left 10 produce seed in a private garden will 
no doubt produce as much, perhaps more, than the same number of 
plants forming part of a ten-acre piece, But it is extremely likely 
that in the end it will prove that the seed was not worth saving or 
sowing, for the characters have gone; none of the sorts have the 
qualities of their parents, and to secure the varieties again in their 
integrity there must be another purchase of the seedsman. Let 
us suppose that in one garden a small patch of Scotch kale has been 
left to produce seed. In another garden close by, there happen to be 
two or three sorts of cabbage in flower at the same time. The bees 
will carry the pollen to and fro and mix all the races together. The 
result will be a nondescript race, and the several possessors in a 
state of perplexity at the disappointment inflicted upon them, seeing 
that they “saved their own seed.” It is not to be supposed, of 
course, that the man who grows seeds systematically and skilfully 
can secure for his crops exemption from insect agency. The simple 
truth of the matter is, that while the bees and other insects that 
June, 
