CHAPTER XVI. 



SEEDS, SOWING, THINNING-OUT, AND 

 TRANSPLANTING. 



The Necessity for Good Seed Varieties to Choose Novelties 

 Testing for Germination The Seed Bed and its Preparation Sowing 

 Thinning Out Transplanting How the Plants should be Trimmed 

 Dibbers and How to Use Them. 



GOOD seed is one of the most essential conditions of success 

 in growing vegetables. For this reason great care should 

 be exercised in selecting the source of supply, for although 

 cheap seeds may be good they may also prove very dear in the 

 end, and it is far safer to pay a little more to an established 

 firm with a good reputation to uphold, and so obtain seeds of 

 assured strain and high vitality, than to risk having only a 

 partial crop or one of very poor quality. 



Whenever possible, seeds should be purchased some time 

 before they are required, not only to have them ready to hand 

 but also to allow time to test for germinative power, if there 

 should be any doubt on the subject. Testing the seeds is es- 

 pecially necessary in the season following a cold wet summer, 

 as it is then frequently immature and unripened. 



Some seeds retain their vitality for many years whilst others 

 lose it quickly (see tables at end of book), but in any case it is 

 safest and the most likely to be productive of good results if 

 fresh and thoroughly ripened seed is always used. 



The choice of varieties is a matter which largely depends 

 upon local conditions, some doing better in one situation 

 than in another ; these peculiarities can be best ascertained by 

 enquiry from gardeners in the neighbourhood, or by actually 

 growing several kinds and selecting that which does the best. 

 As a general rule, old-established varieties should always be 

 preferred, particularly for the main-crops, for the fact that they 



