86 THE SEED-GROWER. 



Middle West. Seed yield in a favorable season is from 

 200 to 300 pounds per acre; prices paid to growers rule 

 from twelve to fifteen cents per pound for summer 

 varieties, twenty to twenty-five cents for winter sorts. 



TOMATO. 



Cultivation of this vegetable for seed is same as for 

 table use, which being so well known, general directions 

 for growing a crop are deemed superfluous here. But 

 plants intended for seed are usually set out four feet 

 each way, and good, rich soil and high cultivation are 

 necessary. 



Stock seed should be saved carefully, not only from 

 perfectly ripe fruit, but from the earliest, largest and 

 best-formed specimens, which besides being true to 

 variety as to color and shape, are perfectly smooth, 

 solid and have ripened close to the core. Such stock 

 seed has a market value of $10 per pound. The com- 

 mercial seed crop should, however, while growing, be 

 gone over and rogued carefully. Finally when the 

 ripe tomatoes are gathered, they must be sorted, and all 

 rejected which are not true or characteristic of the 

 variety. 



To be in prime, marketable condition, commercial 

 seed must be bright in appearance; and to have such 

 real bright-looking seed, fruit should be gathered just 

 ripe, not over or under ripe, and must not remain in 

 fermentation longer than is absolutely necessary to 

 loosen the gum which clings to the seed. Seed saved 

 from over-ripe fruit is harder to clean. 



Fermentation and Washing. Fruit is first ground 

 up in a machine similar to the one used for grinding 

 cucumbers, the wire reel taking out large pieces of pulp. 

 The seed with its remaining pulp is then poured into 



