148 SOWING, PLANTING, ETC. 



470. With the same soil, climate and cultivation, the 

 most perfect seed will produce the finest crop. No seed 

 is likely to produce a healthy and vigorous plant, unless 

 it came from a strong and healthy plant itself, was fully 

 ripened, and is so fresh that its power of germination is 

 still uninjured. 



471. Good seed may be known by its weight, its size, 

 its glossy surface, and its freedom from any disagreeable 

 odor. Plumpness and weight indicate that it was produced 

 by a vigorous plant ; a glossy covering shows it to be 

 healthy, and the absence of odor shows that it has been 

 well preserved. 



472. To learn whether the germinating power still 

 exists, we may take two pieces of thick cloth, moisten 

 them with water, and place them one above the other hi 

 the bottom of a saucer. Then take some of the seeds, 

 spread them out thin upon the cloths, not allowing them 

 to cover or touch each other. Cover them over with a 

 third cloth like the others, and moistened in the same 

 manner. Set the saucer in a moderately warm place, and 

 moisten the cloths from time to time, taking care not to 

 use too much water. Good seed, thus treated, will swell 

 gradually, while old or poor seed which has lost its, 

 germinating power, will become mouldy and begin to 

 decay in a very few days. 



473. Such a trial enables the farmer to judge whether 

 old seed is mixed with new. The new germinates much 

 more quickly than the old. It enables him, also, to judge 

 of the quantity he must sow, since he can thus tell whether 

 a hall , three-quarters, or the whole will be likely to 

 germinate, and will know what allowance to make for 

 bad seed. Clover seeds, if new and fresh, will show their 

 genus the third or fourth day. 



