50 FARM AND GARDEN SEEDS 



at the edge of the box. This should show the number of seeds 

 planted, the kind and the date. 



2. One hundred seeds of each lot may be placed on wet blotters 

 with a paper label for each. The blotters may be piled upon 

 each other as high as desired and placed inside a moist jar or other 

 vessel. This should be loosely closed to retard the evaporation 

 and yet allow some air to enter. 



3. Use a modification of the rag doll method, placing a label 

 with each lot of seeds as the cloth is rolled up. 



4. The plate method is often used. Blotters or cloth are used 

 to help retain the moisture, as the seeds must be kept uniformly 

 moist as well as warm during the germination. 



Other methods can be easily devised to suit the particular 

 needs or conditions in any school or home. 



Obtaining Good Seed. Careful gardeners find it profitable 

 to save seeds of their own growing. This is the most satisfactory 

 way of improving the special strains or varieties which they wish 

 to grow. For example, if a tomato grower finds certain plants 

 bearing tomatoes which most nearly meet his market conditions 

 he should save seeds from those plants. The admixture of seed 

 from other inferior fruits will not pay. 



In the wholesale methods of obtaining tomato seeds for sale 

 to dealers no such careful selection can be made. It may be that 

 such lots of seeds are taken from the fruits which matured late 

 in the season after market prices for tomatoes had dropped below 

 the profitable point. Crops grown from such late-matured seeds 

 would be less likely to be ready for the early markets when the 

 prices are best. Tomatoes vary greatly in the proportion of flesh 

 and core. In the wholesale methods of obtaining tomato seeds 

 for market such variations within varieties cannot be taken into 

 consideration. 



Similar reasons can be found for the home selection of seed 

 for other garden and field crops. 



Limits. There are certain garden crops which will not mature 

 seeds well in the climates where the crops themselves are profit- 

 ably grown for market. For example, this is the case in some 

 localities where onions, cauliflower and sugar beets are grown. 



Home Grown Seeds should be thoroughly and carefully dried 

 as soon as they are mature. They may then be placed in envelopes 

 or other receptacles and properly labeled. Special descriptions 

 may be desirable in certain cases. These envelopes or containers 



