SEED-SOWING. 35 



In the case of the Peas as well as of the Beans, the plants 

 from the larger seed were better throughout the season than 

 those from the small seed : the superiority of the former was 

 specially marked in respect to the quality of the seed harvested, 

 as shown in the table. Professor Lehmann, of Munich, carried 

 out a somewhat similar course of experiments with the same 

 plants, and with still more striking results in favour of the use 

 of large and carefully-selected seed; and in his experiments 

 not only did the larger seed yield a larger crop from the same 

 number of plants, but .a much larger proportion of the small 

 seed failed to germinate in the garden, or at least to push the 

 young plants to the surface of the ground, than of the large 

 seed. 



At the January meeting (1876) of the Edinburgh Botanic 

 Society, Mr Stephen Wilson read a very interesting paper on 

 " Turnip Seeds ; " and his experiments also go to prove that 

 large, plump, well-ripened seeds are the best in every way. 

 Even in the case of tubers used for " sets," as with Potatoes, 

 the same rule holds good. Mr Maw, in his Prize Essay on 

 Potato-Culture, read before the Society of Arts, points out 

 that the larger Potato "sets" are, up to 8 ounces each, the 

 finer and heavier is the crop. 



Large, heavy, well-ripened seeds secured, a careful mode of 

 sowing must not be lost sight of; and as the object of sowing is 

 to obtain the largest and best crops from a given area, it follows 

 that the system which secures this end is the best. One of the 

 evils most to be dreaded is sowing too thickly. Just the 

 quantity of seed to secure a good crop should be sown, and 

 no more. The seedlings should never be so close together 

 that they are brought into competition for food and air ; in- 

 deed, all cases of thick-seeding or overcrowding are so much 

 power lost loss of seed, loss of labour in thinning out, and 

 loss of nature's greatest power, that of growth. In the case 

 of large seeds, dibbling is perhaps the best of all modes of 

 sowing. 



The following table on the duration of the germinating 

 power in seeds was originally published in the ' Revue Horti- 

 cole,' and may be useful to those who are uncertain whether 

 to sow old seeds or not. The figures indicate the number of 

 years in each case in which the seeds named may be de- 

 pended upon as preserving their vitality or power of growth. 

 In many cases the power of growth is preserved much longer 

 than here stated. 



