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and inferior kinds. Of course any farmer or gardener who uses the 

 same precautions can have similar results, but where the attempt is 

 made to grow several varieties in one field the distinctive characteris- 

 tics of each variety can not be maintained. 



Climates have also much to do in the matter of seed-saving. When 

 seeds are grown in a climate unsuited to their best maturity they will 

 perpetuate a weak progeny. For example, the oat plant requires a 

 cool, moist climate for its perfect development ; hence seed oats grown 

 in a warm, dry climate are very inferior. In countries suited to the 

 plant it is not difficult to find seed that will weigh 45 pounds and more 

 per bushel. Yet these heavy seeds if sown in the middle States will 

 rapidly deteriorate ; no matter how carefully crops may be managed 

 an annual shortage will be found both in the quantity and quality. In 

 cases of this kind it is the best economy to procure seeds from the best 

 localities, for no efforts towards acclimation will prove of any value. 



But in climates entirely suited to the growth and full development 

 of a plant it is possible to gradually improve its qualities by carefully 

 selecting seeds from the most perfect plants only, and this is within the 

 reach of every person who desires to save his own seeds. 



Then the question of cost may be considered. Those who make a 

 business of growing seeds can do so much more advantageously in most 

 cases than the amateur in this line. We know that there is often much 

 complaint about bad seeds, but in most instances these complaints have 

 originated through bad management in sowing. The most common 

 mistakes are those of covering the seeds too deeply with soil and negli- 

 gence in firming the surface after the seeds are sown ; rolling the sur- 

 face after seeding is one of the most important points in seeding. 



ROTATION IN CROPPING. 



It may be surmised that the necessity for rotation of crops soon be- 

 came apparent to the earlier cultivators. They would discover that 

 their best efforts in appliances were unavailable in maintaining a con- 

 tinuous profitable growth of the same kind of plant on the same soil. 

 When soils became unproductive it was supposed that the land required 

 rest, hence the practice of fallowing was introduced. Fallowing was 

 a common practice among the Romans. It was their usual course to 

 allow the land to rest after each crop a crop and a year's fallow suc- 

 ceeding each other. Where manure was applied two crops were taken, 

 and on some lands several crops were taken between the fallowing 

 periods. It was a very natural deduction that the land required rest 

 when observation showed that after successive crops of the same plant 

 it refused to grow, although the land had not apparently diminished in 

 fertility. 



The agriculture of the ancient Egyptians being confined to the banks 

 and lowlands adjacent to rivers, where from annual overflows a rich 



