62 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETV. 



seed as for new if they can help it, but in many cases no differ- 

 ence is made in the small lots sent out to the people, except that 

 care is taken to mix in enough fresh seed to render the sample 

 salable. This, to a large extent, accounts for the fact that rare 

 vegetable and flower seeds often show a remarkably low vitality 

 — a more or less frequent experience of every horticulturist and 

 farmer. In ordinary seasons of business the common seeds move 

 rapidly in trade, but the rare sorts are apt to be left over from 

 3^ear to year. The fact that such seed always costs more than 

 the ordinarj^ varieties makes the evil a very exasperating one. 



To obviate, at least in a measure, the troubles arising from 

 planting seed of low vitality, the seedsman frequently advises his 

 customers to sow more seed per acre or rod than experiments 

 have shown to^ be necessary if fresh seed were used. In fact, I 

 may say, that with the present inadequate knowledge of seeds in 

 this country, Avhere the matter of prudence and economy has not 

 entered into horticultural practices to the same extent as in 

 Europe, there is very often an unnecessary waste in seed-sowing. 

 Better pay more for good seed and sow only what is necessary. 

 Labor will be saved both in the sowing and in thinning out the 

 seedlings. This last point is a very important one where held or 

 garden crops are raised upon a large scale. 



If the seedsman would sell two pounds of seed which is lifty 

 per cent below the proper germinating standard at the same 

 price as one pound of standard seed, the dishonest practice — I 

 call it by its right name — of selling low germinating seed wduld 

 be greatly lessened, but such is not the case. 



When seedsmen are asked to guarantee their seeds they make 

 statements like the following (I am quoting now from the cata- 

 logue of one of the oldest and most reliable seed firms in the 

 United States) : 



" Seeds of tlie best possible quality will fail through improper 

 treatment. Thus, if a small seed be sown so deeply that the 

 young plant cannot reach the surface, the seeds, however good, 

 will fail. More failures result from a want of proper knowledge 

 of conditions necessary to germination than from bad quality of 

 seeds themselves. Besides the conditions" (wliioh are stated) 

 '' affecting the germination of the seed, the young plants, after 

 they have made their way to the surface, are liable to various 

 accidents ; a sudden current of very cold air, or a continued dry- 



