FIELD AND GARDEN SEEDS. 329 



RAISING AND SELECTING FIELD AND GARDEN SEEDS. 



BY O. B. HADAVEN OF WORCESTER. 



Nothing can give the cultivator of the farm or garden greater 

 satisfaction than the positive knowledge that he is planting 

 good seeds, which are essentials to the success of good hus- 

 bandry. To witness seed putting forth its germs containing the 

 hidden forces of growth and harvest, knowing in advance the 

 exact tj^pe of vegetable, fruit or flower to grow from the 

 several kinds and strains of seed planted, to seek for and be 

 able to comprehend and master the art of obtaining new 

 hybrids and crosses of all veget;ible growth, and perfect the 

 desirable qualities of each, is in the power of the husbandman, 

 and how it may be done is within the scope of the subject 

 assigned to me. 



At the same time this paper is by no means intended to 

 go into a solution of so vast a subject, but can aim only at a 

 few hints toward a solution. 



Let us learn to do everything as well as we can, should 

 ever be kept prominently in view, in " raising and selecting 

 seeds." Nature does the work, matures and finishes every 

 seed, perfect in form, size and color, containing germs to re- 

 produce the vast variety of vegetation grown in all latitudes 

 and climates the world over. The plant, leaf, flower and 

 seed, are each exact types of their kind, unless changed 

 by forces and conditions, which nature has provided to 

 complete her charm. Nature's forces in seeds are sus- 

 ceptible to influences and conditions which are applied 

 not only by nature herself but by art. Thus the pollen 

 transferred from one flower to another of the same species 

 will produce a seed containing a germ, which will be quite 

 likely to produce a hybrid, blending the properties of 

 each. "When of the same variety it will reproduce its 

 kind. Hence it is within the power and art of man to so 

 act upon the forces of nature as to produce varieties of flowers, 

 fruits and vegetables ad libitum. And it is by hybridization 

 that we witness every year some new and desirable variety of 

 vegetable or fruit which proves a desirable acquisition. 



I have a friend who, by self-culture and ambition, has be- 

 come thoroughly accomplished in the science and art of 



