CHAPTER V 



SEEDS AND SEED GROWING. DEVELOPMENT OF 

 VARIETIES 



Good pedigrees in seeds are of the utmost importance 

 in order to grow good crops. No other single factor that 

 enters into the production of a crop is more important. 

 Where many kinds of plants are grown it is better and 

 cheaper, as a rule, to depend on some careful seed grower 

 for seeds than to go to the expense of raising them, although 

 it may be best to raise a few of the more important kinds of 

 seeds for which one's conditions are best adapted. When 

 one makes a specialty of crops like onions, cabbage, and 

 some other vegetables, it is often advantageous to raise 

 the seed oneself, since, their purity and pedigree are then 

 known and no risk is taken about it. 



Some seeds can be grown to better advantage in one 

 section than in another. For instance, cauliflower seed 

 cannot be raised profitably in many parts of the United 

 States, but near Puget Sound and in a few other places in 

 this country it can be raised to good advantage. Most of 

 the cauliflower seed used in this country is still imported 

 from southern Europe. As a general rule, however, the 

 seeds raised in one's own vicinity or in a similar climate 

 elsewhere are best to plant if they are properly selected. 

 Experience seems to show that seed grown in cold climates 

 generally produces an earlier crop than seed grown in warm 

 sections. 



Testing Seeds. No matter how carefully our seeds 

 may have been grown or who the person is from whom we 

 received them, it may save much trouble and loss to test 



