50 Subtropical Vegetable-Gardening 



all seeds. In damp climates, between the tropics, one 

 cannot put packets of seeds in a drawer and keep them 

 for years. Most seeds have to be well dried and stored 

 in sealed bottles. Many seeds deteriorate on the voyage 

 from temperate to tropical regions, unless they are specially 

 dried, stored in cans, and soldered up. An easy way to 

 keep valuable seeds in a damp, hot tropical climate is to 

 store them in stoppered jars or tin boxes, sealed with 

 paraffin, and place with them a package of fused calcium 

 chloride or lumps of quick-lime to dry them well. Most 

 seeds will endure such desiccation without injury and are 

 then uninjured by the shade heat of tropical countries, 

 which is rarely over 100 F. Where cold storage is avail- 

 able, a cheap way is to put the seeds in water-tight boxes 

 in the ice-house. This question of keeping seeds is of 

 great importance to all agriculturists in the hot belt of 

 the earth. 



TROPICAL SEEDS 



The tropical vegetable-grower may wish to know, in 

 the absence of nurserymen in the tropics, where he may 

 get new kinds of the different vegetables peculiar to the 

 tropics. In most cases he must go somewhere near the 

 original home of the vegetable in question. 



Thus, for new varieties of plantain, recourse should be 

 had to Java especially, and to the neighboring regions; 

 for varieties of taro, to Hawaii and other Pacific Islands ; 

 for the tannias, to Porto Rico and other of the Spanish 

 West Indies and the neighboring mainland ; for cassava, to 

 tropical and subtropical South America, especially Brazil, 

 Colombia, and Paraguay ; for papayas and chayotes, to 



