98 VEGETABLE GARDENING 



by machines, the greatest care should be exercised to pre- 

 vent breaking the seeds or the seed coats. Windmilling is 

 necessary for further cleaning of the seed. 



In securing clean seeds, vegetables such as tomatoes 

 and melons must stand for some time in their juices to 

 remove the mucilaginous covering. A common method 

 is to throw the cut or broken specimens, or sometimes 

 the pulp, into any convenient vessel, as a crock, tub or 

 barrel, and stir daily until fermentation has loosened the 

 covering about each seed. Then the operation may be 

 completed by washing. To prevent the discoloring of 

 seeds, the fermentative process should not be continued 

 longer than necessary. 



After fermentation, the seeds are separated from the 

 pulp and the skin by washing as often as may be required 

 to obtain clean seeds. The good seeds settle to the bot- 

 tom of the vessel, while pulp, skin and light seeds rise to 

 the top, and may be poured off. Three or four washings 

 are usually sufficient. Sieves are often used in the process 

 of separation by washing. 



After windmilling or washing the seeds must be thor- 

 oughly cured before storing. They should be spread in 

 thin layers in lofts, or in dry, well-ventilated places until 

 thoroughly cured. It is an advantage to wash early in 

 the morning of bright days to facilitate drying. Seeds 

 must not be subjected to freezing temperatures before 

 being cured, for this invariably impairs their germinat- 

 ing power. 



144. Preservation of seeds. Seeds may be stored in 

 either cloth or paper bags. The greatest enemy to the 

 preservation of seeds is moisture, but the conditions in 

 an ordinary living room are satisfactory, although neither 

 high nor low temperatures affect the vitality, provided 

 the seeds are well cured and the humidity is low. It is a 

 well-known fact that seeds do not keep well in the South, 

 because of the great amount of moisture in the air. The 



