22 KITCHEN-GARDENING. 



In order to put such on their guard as may attempt to raise 

 seed either for their own use or for the market, I would 

 observe that great care is necessary ; as it is an indubitable fact, 

 that if seed of similar species be raised near each other, dege- 

 neracy will be the consequence. It is therefore difficult for 

 any one man to raise all sorts of seed, good and true to their 

 kind, in any one garden. 



If roots of any kind become defective, they are unfit for 

 seed, as the annexed fact will show. I once planted for seed 

 some beautiful orange-colored roots of Carrots ; but as they 

 had been previously grown with some of a lemon-color, they 

 produced seed of a mixed and spurious variety ; and as this is 

 not a solitary instance of degeneracy from the like cause, I 

 have come to the conclusion that, as in the animal frame, so it 

 is in the vegetable system disorders frequently lie dormant 

 from one generation to another, and at length break out with 

 all their vigor. I would therefore advise seed-growers not to 

 attempt to " bring a clean thing out of an unclean ; " but if 

 they find a mixture of varieties among their seed-roots, to 

 reject the whole, or they will infallibly have spurious seed. 



SEEDS OF STONE FRUIT. 



If the seeds of the Apple, Pear, and Quince, and the pits 

 of the Apricot, Cherry, Peach, and Plum, were not planted in 

 autumn, let it be done as soon as the earth can be brought 

 into tillable condition in the spring, because exposure to frost 

 is usually essential to their vegetating, unless the shells are 

 separated by some means, so that moisture can reach the 

 germs. The chief object of exposing pits to frost is, simply 

 to open the shell. 



CAUSES OF FAILURE IN THE GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 



As some gardeners attribute all failures of seed to germi- 

 nate to its defectiveness, I shall offer a few observations to 

 convince such persons of their error. 



Seeds denominated hardy and half-hardy, are subject to risk in 



