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air expedients must be used in order to keep the earth suitably moist, 

 such as sprinkling the surface with chaff, moss, leaves, or straw, taking 

 care to remove immediately after the seeds germinate. This will also 

 prevent the soil from becoming hard and compact, and thereby obviate 

 another cause of failure. It is also a fatal error to sow too early; the 

 soil should be dry, friable, and warm in order to excite germination and 

 maintain an uninterrupted healthy growth. Unhealthy plants are 

 sure to result when heat and moisture are presented in varying quanti- 

 ties to the tender germ. 



Seeds that are inclosed in a hard shell vegetate most freely when sown 

 as soon as ripe. For instance, seeds of the grape, if planted immediately 

 when the fruit is ripe, will vegetate in a few weeks, but if kept dry 

 until the following spring and then sown but few will vegetate until 

 they have lain in the soil for twelve months. 



SEED-SAVING. 



Whether it is best for farmers and gardeners to save their own seed 

 or make yearly purchases depends very much upon circumstances, or 

 rather upon the particular kinds of seeds in question and the manner 

 of saving them. Seed-raising is a business which requires skill in cul- 

 ture and great discriminating knowledge, which can only be acquired 

 by observant practice. As a general rule it is cheaper in the long run 

 to buy seeds than attempt to save them ; this remark applies with 

 greater force to the seeds of improved varieties than species which are 

 reproduced with more certainty from seeds. It is one of the great arts 

 in seed-raising to keep varieties true to their descriptive peculiarities, 

 and with some kinds of seeds this requires an amount of attention and 

 labor of which the majority of those who purchase seeds have but a 

 faint conception. As an example we will specify the cabbage, and in 

 the first place we would remark that it is now held that cabbage seed 

 raised near the seacoast is always better than that raised inland ; so 

 confident of this are the market gardeners around New York that they 

 endeavor to procure their early cabbage seed from growers on the east- 

 ern Atlantic side- of Long Island. The seed raiser is, as a matter of 

 course, very careful as to the seeds he sows for his cabbage crop ; but 

 in order that any variety should be maintained as near to its perfection 

 as possible, the crop is carefully inspected after the plants have headed, 

 and all those that do not come up to the perfect standard in regard to 

 compactness, size, shape, and time of heading are destroyed, and only 

 those which pass inspection are retained. The seed dealer who acquires 

 a reputation for care and accuracy in this matter can sell his seed at 

 highly remunerative prices, which may be double the amount asked by 

 others for the same variety, but which has been carelessly and indis- 

 criminately saved. Varieties must always be grown very widely apart 

 for seed, for so far as bees can fly there is danger of crossing with other 



