SEED SOWING SUGGESTIONS. 

 By William N. Craig, Brookline, Mass. 



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Delivered before the Society, January 20, 1917. 



Of the various methods of propagation in common usage, which 

 include layering, grafting, budding, leaf cuttings, shoot cuttings, 

 roots, and seed), the last named is many times more important 

 horticulturally as well as agriculturally than all others combined. 

 There may be less skill necessary in the production of plants from 

 seeds than other methods named, which are in many cases neces- 

 sary for the keeping of true stocks, and in some instances seed 

 propagation would be undesirable, but broadly speaking both 

 horticulture and agriculture depend overwhelmingly for their 

 existence on seeds. This be it noted is Nature's plan in forest and 

 field the world over, in tropical, temperate, and arctic climes. It 

 is far the most natural method whereby the majority of plants 

 reproduce themselves, not always absolutely true t6 type, as this 

 depends on insect agencies and foreign pollen which affect their 

 fertilization. If, however, all plants naturally reproduced them- 

 selves true from seeds the wonderful variations we have in plants, 

 flowers, and other forms of plant life could not have been obtained 

 b^' cross breeding, and artificial fertilization and improvements 

 made would necessarily have been very much slower. A seed 

 is lx)tanically a ripened ovule; it contains what is called an embryo 

 or miniature plant, with leaves, a bud, and a descending axis; 

 it is in brief a little dormant plant. What are in a broad sense 

 termed seeds are in many cases fruits; some of these contain more 

 than one seed or growing points, as in the case of such plants as 

 beets, mangel wurzel, seakale, and lettuce. Nuts in variety, 

 acorns etc. are really fruits; so are some of the cereals, and seeds 

 of raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and other fruits. Many 

 winged seeds flying from such trees as elms, maples, and lindens are 

 fruits containing a single seed. The wind carries many of these 

 long distances, and thus disseminates them more Avidely ; birds and 



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