CHAPTER XX. 



SEEDS AND SEED SOWING. 



BY MACHINE AND BY HAND. 

 " Good seed brings a glad harvest." 



OOD seed is one of the essential conditions of suc- 

 cess in growing garden stuff, and to secure it is 

 well worth considerable trouble and effort. Com- 

 pared with the results, particularly with the great 

 difference in the outcome of one kind of seed and 

 of another, the greater expense of a reliable article 

 is not worth taking into consideration. A few 

 cents' difference in cost of seed may make many 

 dollars' difference in the returns. When a whole crop and its 

 quality is at stake, there is no wisdom in running the slightest 

 risk for the sake of a small saving in the expense. Cheap seed 

 'is not necessarily poor; but poor seed is always a costly invest- 

 ment. The fact is that seed of really first-class quality cannot be 

 grown profitably at very low figures, and the only judicious 

 course to follow is to buy of a strictly reliable source, and be 

 willing to pay a reasonable price. Would you take a medicine 

 that happens to be on hand, merely for the sake of saving it ? It 

 is a no more foolish proceeding than to use seeds because you 

 happen to have them, or can get them at little or no expense. 

 Never plant a seed of the superior character and quality of \\hich 

 you are not reasonably certain. Little difficulty will be exper- 

 ienced if any one is anxious to purchase reliable garden seeds, since 

 there are many firms of established reputation whose goods can 

 be depended upon for quality and purity. All the larger repu- 

 table houses send out no seed except that of the purity and 

 reliability of which they are tolerably sure, and only after testing 

 and approving of its vitality. 



I cannot warn too emphatically against putting reliance on 

 the seeds sold on commission by grocers and hardware dealers. 

 It is obvious that in buying such seeds you will have to pay for 

 the services of the middleman, while a direct deal with the 

 seedsman will probably insure some saving in the expense. But 

 this is only a minor benefit derived from this direct deal. When 

 only one-third of the packets contained in the commission boxes 

 are sold, it is plain that the dealer cannot afford to throw the 

 two-thirds left over away, but, as a matter of self-preservation, 

 (108) 



