54 THE SEED-GROWER. 



handles affording a means of rest at the top of the out- 

 side box. The bottom of this outside box is made of 

 wire bronze, mosquito netting mesh, for water to drain 

 through. To support this bronze netting strips are 

 nailed across. The bottom also has legs at each corner 

 for support in the water. The legs at one end are 

 longer than the other two, to allow for the slope of the 

 beach when standing in the water. Three men operate 

 this apparatus. They stand in the water in rubber 

 boots. One man at each end takes a pair of handles and 

 lifts and shakes the screen, while the third man pours in 

 three buckets of pulp at a time. The shaking separates 

 seed from pulp, seed sinks through and falls to the bot- 

 tom of the outside box. The pulp is then dumped out 

 of the screen box, fresh pulp is poured in and the 

 operation is repeated until the space in the outside box 

 is full. Seed is then taken out, and a final cleaning is 

 given with a sieve in a tub of water. 



Drying. This is done on screens in the same man- 

 ner as given for cucumbers. But it should be hastened 

 as much as possible, so as to have the seeds as dry as 

 can be before night; to facilitate which the work should 

 be begun early in the morning of a clear, dry day. 

 While drying on the screens, stir or turn the seeds over 

 from time to time. 



As eggplant seed sprouts more easily than seed of any 

 other vegetable, when first taken out of the fruit, it is 

 sometimes lost by sprouting over night when not as dry 

 as it should be. 



The large grower, whose operations of extracting and 

 washing seed have been described, does not dry his seed 

 out-doors. He prefers, owing to depredations by birds, 

 to dry seed on the floor of a dry, airy room. He 

 spreads the seed thinly, less than quarter of an inch 



