22 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



I think the greatest possible betterment in vegetable growing is 

 through its greater varietal uniformity and adaptation to local 

 conditions. I once asked the best cabbage grower I ever knew: 

 " What would it be worth to you if every plant in the field was like 

 those ten?" pointing to some not better than many others, but so 

 near alike that they could not be readily distinguished, and he 

 replied : " If I could grow fields of cabbage 95% of which were as 

 good and as near alike as those, I would plant 500 acres a year until 

 I had made enough to retire." 



I have been impressed with the uniformity of varietal character 

 seen in some of the houses of lettuce in this vicinity and have 

 been told that they were from home-grown and selected stock seed 

 and I believe that was the most important feature of their success. 



Again, I think I can sa}^ without exaggeration, that in the 

 "aggregate, though varying somewhat in different vegetables, fully 

 10% of the very best and most useful varieties I have ever known 

 have never come into general use, or have disappeared and are no 

 longer obtainable because, though heavy producers of market 

 products or of superior ciuality, they were such poor seeders that 

 seed could not be profitably handled by the seedsmen at the prices 

 paid for most sorts. We think that the demand of gardeners for 

 uniform prices for standard varieties, with cut rates in years of 

 over-production, is one of the most unfortunate conditions in the 

 trade and we hope that the high prices asked and paid last year 

 for some species may lead to a change in this respect. 



One of the most common complaints about the quality of seed, 

 particularly if it was obtained from a seedsman, is want of via- 

 bility, but in my experience this is not a common fault in stocks of 

 reputable seedsmen. Failure to germinate is often due to the way 

 the seed is planted. Well educated people will treat a lot of seed 

 in as unreasonable a way as it would be to set a half -bushel basket 

 of eggs into an incubator and expect three weeks later to find a 

 half-bushel of chicks. This is not an exaggeration, generally two 

 or three often five to ten, and not unfrequentl}' ten to fifty seeds 

 are sown in the space necessary for the best development of a 

 single seedling. Again seeds are often covered too deep. Every 

 year I hear of lettuce that was planted an inch or more deep and 

 its failure to make a crop charged to want of viability of the seed. 



