SEEDS AND SEEDAGE 



SEEDS AND SEEDAGE 



3135 



secures but a single variety or marked form of real 

 value to the cultivator. 



The second, and perhaps the most important branch 

 of seed-breeding, is the raising of purer strains of stocks 

 of proved value. An illustration of the need of work in 

 this direction can be drawn from a recent trial planting 

 of garden beets in which it was found that practically 

 even" root grown from 2-rod plantings of each of 214 

 samples of seed purchased under distinct varietal 

 names from the most reputable seedsmen of America 

 and Europe could be grouped into not over twenty dis- 

 tinct forms, and the roots so thrown together show as 

 little variation as the crop from any one of the twenty 

 most uniform samples in the trial. Often the only 

 difference between two lots sold under different names 

 would be in the proportion of the roots of each lot that 

 conformed to the same varietal form. It is thought that 

 seed-stocks of most species of garden vegetables would 

 show similar variation, though possibly not to the 

 same degree, and this is not so generally due to care- 

 lessness in growing or handling as to the want of 

 adherence on the part of the seed-grower to clear-cut 

 ideals of varietal form. Every plant grown from seed 

 has a certain definite and changeless character which 

 was inherent in the seed from which it was grown and 

 is made up of a balanced sum of different tendencies, 

 potentialities, and limitation of development inherited 

 in different and varying degrees from each of its 

 ancestors for an indefinite number of generations, plus 

 more or less influence from climatic and other conditions 

 effecting the development of the seed-producing plant. 

 Generally the influence of the immediate parent is the 

 dominant one, but not infrequently a characteristic of 

 an ancestor which has been transmitted unexpressed 

 for many generations appears in such strength as to 

 change the whole character of the plant. 



Under these conditions, a necessary preparation for 

 the growing of better stocks is the formation of a 

 very clear and comprehensive conception of the exact 



varietal character of the 

 stock to be grown, and 

 a rigid adherence to that 

 ideal in the selection of 

 seeding plants from year 

 to year, never giving 

 way to the ever-present 

 temptation to use some 

 superlative individual 

 which differs in any re- 

 spect from the original 

 ideal of the stock. A 

 most important aid, if 

 not a requisite, for such 

 persistence is the writing 

 out and placing on file 

 for frequent reference 

 the fullest practical de- 

 scription of the exact 

 varietal character of the 

 sort. With this in hand, 

 a few plants which come 

 as near as possible to that 

 ideal are selected, and 

 the seed of each saved 

 separately. The next sea- 

 son samples of each of 

 these lots are planted in 

 a preliminary trial. As 

 they develop, and with 

 the written description 

 of the desired form in 

 hand, they are carefully 

 compared and the lots 

 which most uniformly 

 3596. Germination complete in adhere to the described 



Indian com. form are selected. The 



next season the reserved seed of the lots which seemed 

 the best in the preliminary trial are planted in blocks 

 as far as possible from each other, or any plants of the 

 species, and the seed raised used for larger plantation 

 for use as stock seed, in the meantime starting another 

 selection from individual plants to take the place of the 

 first, as it deteriorates. An illustration will show the 

 value of careful selection and the necessity for constant 



3597. Gardener's flat, or a shallow box, in which seeds are 

 sown and small plants handled. A good size for a flat is 16 z 20 

 inches, and 3 inches deep. 



renewal of even the purest of stocks. A very carefully 

 bred strain of a variety of watermelon was used to 

 plant a 20-acre field grown for seed. When about three- 

 fourths of the fruit was ripe, several hours were spent 

 in looking over the field for "off" stock and less than fifty 

 fruits were found which should be removed. Fully 75 

 per cent of the fruits were so near alike that they could 

 not be distinguished from each other. Seed from this 

 field was used for planting seed crops and it was so 

 good that little attention was paid to the stock; as a 

 result, some years later, a crop grown in the same 

 vicinity from seed of the same strain, but several 

 generations removed, instead of less than fifty ''off" 

 fruits on 20 acres, had fully 75 per cent of the fruits 

 more or less distinctly "off" and less than 20 per cent 

 were as uniformly ideal of the variety as were 99 per 

 cent of those of the first crop. 



What might be termed commercial seed-growing has 

 developed very rapidly in America in the past ten years, 

 and there has not only been an increase in quantity, 

 but an improvement in the varietal quality of the seed 

 grown. Seed dealers having secured, sometimes at 

 great cost, desirable stocks, enter into contracts with 

 farmers located in sections where soil and climate are 

 most favorable for the development of the best qualities 

 of the sort and the securing of a full crop of the seed, to 

 plant a given area and deliver to them the entire seed 

 product. This the farmer does, often with little regard 

 to selection, only taking the requisite pains to guard 

 against contamination fand mixture with other crops. 



The United States Census of 1910 gives the total 

 valuation of the vegetable- and flower-seed crop grown 

 in the United States in 1909 at $1,411,013 (see page 

 3136), but it is thought that the amount actually pro- 

 duced was much larger, seed-dealers and -growers gen- 

 erally being inclined to depreciate the extent and profit 

 of the business in order to lessen competition. Since 

 then the amount grown and listed has increased materi- 

 ally, an estimate by a very experienced dealer of the area 

 devoted to vegetable-seed crops in 1915 being as follows: 



Acres 



Seed beans 50,000 



Cabbage for seed 2,000 



Sweet corn 15,000 



Cucumbers 15,000 



Onions 2,600 



Muskmelons 6,000 



Watermelons 6,000 



Garden peas 50.000 



Radish 4,000 



Tomatoes 50,000 



