SEEDAGE 



SEEDAGE 



1641 



pared soil in the open, may be as great as 50 per cent. 

 Viability varies with seasons and other conditions. 

 While it is true as a general statement that the older 

 the seed the less the viability, yet the reverse may be 

 true within narrow limits. Sometimes lettuce and 

 melons that germinate only 50 per cent in December, 

 germinate 70-80 per cent in April. 



In order that seeds shall germinate, they must be 

 supplied with moisture and be given a definite tempera- 

 ture. The requisite temperature and moisture vary 

 with the different kinds of seeds, and they are to be 

 determined only by experience. Seeds may be planted 

 in any medium which supplies these requisite condi- 

 tions. Although seeds are ordinarily planted in the 

 ground, such practice is not necessary to germination. 

 They may be planted in cocoanut fiber, moss or other 

 medium. However, the ground may supply the requi- 

 sites for germination, and it also supplies plant-food 

 for the young plantlet when it begins to shift for itself; 

 and, furthermore, the plants are in the position in which 

 they are desired to grow. In 

 the case of many seeds, 

 germination is more rapid 

 and certain when the seeds 

 are sown in cocoanut fiber 

 or other medium, for the 

 conditions may be more uni- 

 form. As soon as germina- 

 tion is fairly complete, the 

 plants are transplanted to 

 the soil. The depth at which 

 seeds shall be sown de- 

 pends on many conditions. 

 Out of doors they are 

 planted deeper than in the 

 house, in order to insure a 

 uniform supply of moisture. 

 A depth equal to twice the 

 diameter of the seed is an 

 old gardeners' rule. This 

 applies well to the sowing 

 of most seeds under glass 

 when the soil is well prepared and is kept watered, but 

 in the open ground three to four times this depth is 

 usually necessary. The finer and moister the soil, the 

 shallower the seeds may be planted, other things being 

 equal. Better results in germination are secured when 

 the seeds are sown in a specially prepared seed-bed. 

 The conditions may then be better, the gardener is able 

 to protect the young plants from cold and from insects 

 and fungi, and he is enabled also to economize' time and 

 labor. In transplanting from the seed-bed to the field, 

 the gardener unconsciously chooses only the best plants 

 and thereby the crop is improved. The seed-bed maybe 

 in a forcing-house or hotbed, or in the open. If it is in 

 the open, it should be near the buildings, where it can 

 be visited frequently and where water may be applied 

 as needed. If the bed is to be used late in the season 

 when the soil is naturally dry, it is well to cover it the 

 previous spring or fall with a very heavy coating of ma- 

 nure. This retains the moisture, and the leaching from the 

 manure adds plant-food to the soil, there- 

 by enabling the young plants to secure 

 an early start. When the seeds are to 

 be sown, the manure is removed and the 

 surface is then in ideal condition. In the 

 handling of young plants in seed-beds, 

 one must take pains that 



2290. Germination complete 

 — Castor Bean. 



2291. Sprouting stage 

 of Indian corn. 



the plants are not too thick 



and that they do not suffer 



for light, else they may 



become "drawn" and be 



practically worthless. In 



greenhouses and hotbeds, 



it is well to handle common vegetables and flower seeds 



in gardeners' flats (Fig. 2293). These flats are easily 



handled, and the soil is so shallow that it can be kept 



in uniform conditions of temperature and moisture. The 



seeds of some of the finer and rarer kinds of ornamental 



plants require special treatment. These treatments are 



usually specified in the articles devoted to those plants. 



Details of the handling of very delicate seeds are well 



discussed in the article on Orchids. 



As a rule, seeds germinate best when they are fresh, 

 that is, less than one year old. Some seeds, however, 

 of which those of melons, pumpkins and cucumbers are 

 examples, retain their vitality unimpaired for a number 

 of years, and gardeners do not ask for recent stock. 

 Seeds of corn salad should be a year old to germinate well. 

 Very hard, bony seeds, as of haws and viburnums, often 

 do not germinate until the second year. In the mean- 

 time, however, they 

 should be kept moist. 

 Seeds of most fruit and 

 forest trees should be 

 kept moist and cool, 

 otherwise they lose vi- 

 tality; yet if kept too 

 moist, and particularly 

 too close or warm, they 

 will spoil. Nuts and 

 hard seeds of hardy 

 plants usually profit by 

 being buried in sand 

 and allowed to freeze. 

 The freezing and the 

 moisture soften and 

 split the integuments. 

 Sometimes the seeds 

 are placed between al- 

 ternate layers of sand 

 or sawdust: such prac- 

 tice is known techni- 

 cally as stratification. 

 L. H. B. 



Seed Breeding. — The 

 marvelous industrial 

 and commercial devel- 

 opment which has char- 

 acterized the latter part 

 of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury is nowhere more 

 marked than in the art 

 and practice of seed 

 growing. Whatever 

 may have been their 

 intellectual belief , most 

 planters have acted, up 

 to within a few years, 

 as if seed was indeed 

 essential to the pro- 

 duction of a crop, but 

 only in the way that 

 water and manure are 

 essential. The only 



question was whether or not the seed would grow. It 

 might be desirable that the seed all be of some particu- 

 lar kind so that the crop would ripen all at once, but 

 beyond that the breeding of the seed was given very 

 little consideration. It is only within a few years that 

 a majority of even good cultivators have come to recog- 

 nize in their practice the fact that the possibilities and 

 limitations of a crop are as positively determined by the 

 seed used as is the character of the fruit of an orchard 

 by the trees of which it is composed. There have al- 

 ways been exceptional men, who fully appreciated the 

 importance of seed selection and breeding, which they 

 practiced within their own gardens to secure a supply 

 for their own use, but even professional seedsmen 

 formerly gave little heed to scientific seed breeding, be- 

 ing quite content to "rogue" out mixtures or poorer 

 plants rather than to select and breed only from the 

 best. Now, every seedsman who values his reputation 

 maintains more or less extensive stock seed farms, 

 where plant-breeding is conducted on the same princi- 

 ples and with the same sort of skill and care that is 

 used in the breeding of animals. 



The general method followed is first to form a clear 

 conception of just what points or qualities give value to 

 a variety and what a perfect plant of that sort should 

 be. Then a few plants — say ten— which come as near 

 this ideal as possible are selected and the seed of each 

 saved separately. These separate lots are planted the 

 next spring in contiguous blocks, and the plants given 

 an opportunity for their most perfect development. As 

 they approach maturity the lots are carefully examined, 



2292. 



Germination complete in 

 Indian corn. 



