CHAPTER VIII. 



SEEDS AND SEED GROWING. DEVELOPMENT OF VARIETIES. 



It is of the utmost importance to have seed of good pedigree 

 in order to grow good crops. No single factor that enters 

 into production of a crop is more important. Where many 

 kinds of plants are grown, it is better and cheaper, as a rule, 

 to depend on some careful seed grower for seeds than to go 

 to the expense of raising them, although it may be best to 

 raise a few of the more important kinds of seeds, for which 

 our conditions are best adapted. When one makes a specialty 

 of crops like onions, cabbage and some other vegetables, 

 it is often advantageous to raise the seed oneself, since one 

 then knows their purity and pedigree and takes no risk 

 about it. 



Some seeds can be grown to better advantage in one 

 section than in another*. For instance, cauliflower seed can- 

 not be raised profitably over most of the United States, but 

 near Puget Sound and in a few other places in this country 

 and in southern Europe it can be raised to good advantage. 

 Most of the cauliflower seed used in this country is still im- 

 ported from southern Europe. As a general rule, however, 

 the seeds raised in one's own vicinity, or in a similar climate 

 elsewhere, are best to plant if they are properly selected. Ex- 

 perience seems to show that seed grown in cold climates 

 generally produces an earlier maturing crop than seed grown 

 in warm sections. 



Testing Seeds. — No matter how carefully our seeds may 

 have been raised or who the person is from whom we receive 

 them, it may save much trouble and loss to test them before 

 sowing. This may be done by sowing them in a box of fine 

 loam, kept at a temperature of from 60 to 70 degrees. The 

 temperature of an ordinary living room is about right. For 

 this purpose use a box about four inches deep and the size of 

 a soap box, sow the seed in shallow drills and cover the box 



