Seeds and Seed-Sowing 47 



invite disease to the product. Only the healthiest and 

 most desirable plants of a variety are good for seed. Some 

 vegetables cannot be raised from home-grown seed; 

 in some cases the seed does not mature, and in others the 

 plants from the home-grown seed are inferior; a striking 

 example of the latter class is the Bermuda onion. After 

 the finest specimens of the variety have been selected, the 

 plant should be allowed to mature the seed thoroughly 

 before gathering. There are two directions in which one 

 may select : first, one may select the best specimens of 

 plants from the standpoint of growth and shape ; secondly, 

 one may select the finest specimens of fruit regardless of 

 the growth of the plant. Neither of these methods is 

 perfect alone, for one should select good fruits on good 

 plants. By such selecting, the variety is constantly im- 

 proved until the improvement finally makes a new strain 

 which will not have the defects of its ancestors. 



It sometimes occurs that a plant appears which is strik- 

 ingly different from the others in the field. Such plants 

 are often designated "sports"; the seed from these will 

 reproduce their peculiarities, and by selecting the typical 

 specimens from the product of such sports, new varieties 

 may be originated. 



In tropical and subtropical countries there is much to be 

 done in the way of seed-saving. Experience in India, for 

 example, has shown that the seeds of many vegetables 

 grown in a warm climate will produce plants that bear 

 well when plants from seeds imported from Europe run 

 to leaf only. But in most tropical countries, and even in 

 Florida, nearly all vegetable seed is still imported. There 

 is a neglected field in the improvement of many tropical 



