THE SEED 



25 



are disease-resistant. Hence, it is not only impor- 

 tant to select from individual plants, but individual 

 fruits as well ; and then, too, we should separate the 

 breeding plots as far as possible to prevent any un- 

 desirable crosses. 



Seeds from Immature Fruits. — In general, seeds 

 that are gathered from immature fruits will produce 

 an earlier ripening crop, but a more delicate and 

 weaker-growing plant ; and if this process is fol- 

 lowed up for a few generations, we will have the 

 crop " running out." simply because the plants have 

 lost their vitality. Seeds from such immature fruits 

 are much more difficult to germinate than are those 

 from well-matured fruits. Seeds from immature 

 fruits seem to have trouble in throwing off their 

 seed coats and getting their roots established in the 

 soil. Many of them perish during the germination 

 period. 



Such seeds, too, do not weigh more than two- 

 thirds as much as those from fruits that are fully 

 ripe ; consequently, the young plantlets lack consti- 

 tutional vigor and are more easily affected by re- 

 tarding or harmful influences. If they can be 

 brought through the early period of growth and be- 

 come well established, and the foliage or fruit is not 

 attacked by rots or blights, the grower will usually 

 be rewarded by an earlier and more abundant crop 

 of slightly smaller and less firm fruit. These char- 

 acters will be more strongly emphasized in subse- 

 quent years by continuous seed propagation along 

 these lines.^ GofT states^ that seeds not fully grown 

 lack a part of their normal food supply and their 



' J. C. Arthur. 



■"Principles of Plant Culture." 



