CHAPTER I 



SEEDS 



PLANTS NOT BREEDING TRUE FROM SEED GERMINATION Vitality 

 Longevity Longevity Tables Testing Seeds TIME TO Sow 

 SOIL FOR SEED SOWING POTS AND FLATS LIGHT SUGGESTIONS 

 Depths Firm Soil SOWING FINE SEEDS WATERING TIME 

 REQUIRED GERMINATION TABLE GERMINATION RATE AND QUAL- 

 ITY OF BLOOM SEED , SIZE AS RELATED TO VALUE SPECIAL 

 GERMINATION TREATMENTS 1, Covering with Burlap 2, Soaking 

 3, Filing 4, Stratifying 5, Scalding 6, Acids and Alkalis 

 SOWING PERENNIALS AQUATICS CACTUS FLORIST'S SEED TIME 

 TABLE Time Table for Vegetable Seed Sowing SHRUB AND 

 TREE SEEDS CONIFERS FROM SEED Collecting Cones Yield 

 from ConesCutting Test Treatment of Seed Time to Sow 

 Soil Protection by Windbreaks Preparing Soil Size of Seed 

 Bed Making Seed Bed Sowing Seed Shade Watering Thin- 

 ning Damping-off of Conifer Seedlings BROAD-LEAVED EVER- 

 GREENS DIOECIOUS PLANTS SAVING SEED FROM DESIRABLE 

 PLANTS-POLLINATION OF TOMATOES-POLLINATION OF CUCUMBERS. 



T)LANTS exist in order to produce their seeds; some die imme- 

 J7 diately after finishing this process. Seeds are entire plants in 

 an embryonic stage and are so micrified that the oak tree is within 

 the acorn. 



The labor of seed production by a plant is trying and, when seed 

 is not wanted, it is better to relieve the flowers of the necessity of 

 producing their seeds by picking the blooms as they pass their 

 maturity. 



Good looks are not always indicative of the ability of seeds to 

 produce superior plants. Hidden within the sexual constitution of 

 the seed is the secret of its real value. 



It is the superior ancestry of the plant rather than the individual 

 value of a single seed that counts. Baldwin Apples may produce 

 good seed but these do not produce good Baldwin Apples. Many 

 of the poor relation parents show up when the seeds are sown. In 

 the same manner seeds from the blue Lobelias will often produce 

 progeny with blue flowers of varying hues. Such hybrid plants 

 whose parentage is much complicated and whose characteristics 

 are not fixed must be propagated by other methods. 



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