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those ears for seed which ripen first, and do this for a succession of years, and 

 the characteristic will finally be thoroughly developed. In like manner if we 

 -wish to develop small cobs we' have only to select those ears which have small 

 cobs, and plant the seeds from them, and follow this practice for successive 

 summers, and small cobs will not be the exception but the rule. If only the 

 ears are saved for seed that grow on stalks producing two or more cars, it will 

 finally become hereditary for each stalk to yield at least twoears. In this man- 

 ner Mr. Tillotson of Lancsborce, in this county, originated the well known va- 

 riety of corn that bears his name, remarkable for its early maturity and large 

 yield, and by the same methods Mr. Baden of Maryland, originated the still 

 more famous Baden corn. Mr. Baden succeeded in making his stalks to yield 

 uniformly three or four ears each. 



We must give the farmers credit for generally selecting their seed corn with 

 some care, going into their fields of corn before the crop is harvested, and se- 

 lecting the most promising and the most mature ears. The consequence is that 

 our crop of corn in New England has improved both in quality and quantity, 

 one hundred bushels of sound, merchantable corn being often reported as the 

 product of one acre. In the selection of the seed of other grains, and the seed 

 of garden vegetables, we regret to say there is not the same care. Oats are tor. 

 often 6own that weigh only 25 or 28 pounds per bushel. From such light and 

 ehaffy seed what can we expect, but lilliputian oats ? The result is ascertain 

 as that a runt calf will be the product of a runt bull. Now and then a crop of 

 good oats may be harvested from such seed, just as occasionally a good calf 

 comes from an inferior sire, but this is the exception not the rule. As we sow 

 so also shall we reap. 



Some of our popular varieties of grain have been started by selecting a few 

 choice heads and carefully propagating the seed. We have a friend who se- 

 lected the best heads of rye, wheat, and oats, year after year for seed till he im- 

 proved the quality of his grain from thirty to forty per cent, and his crops were 

 in great demand as furnishing thorough bred- seed. In the hands of less careful 

 farmers the seed however degenerated, and why ''. Because there was little or 

 no discrimination about the quality of that used for propagating the variety. 



The seeds of all the grains should be thoroughly winnowed before being sown, 

 so that only the heaviest may be used for reproduction, and those free from all 

 foul matter. When we sow wheat we Avish to raise wheat and not chess, and 

 the only mode of preventing a mesling cross of wheat and chess is not to sow 

 the latter. Few sights are more painful to the careful farmer than a field of 

 oats yellow with charlick. The remedy is not to sow eharliek, or if the seeds 

 remain in the soil from the carelessness of some former sower, to pull out all 

 the charlick plants before they are sufficiently mature to deform the crops of 

 another year. 



In the case of garden vegetables it is equally important to secure good seed. 

 In our first efforts at cabbage raising, we wondered why some of the plants de 

 vcloped large and had heads, other- by their side, and having apparently equal 

 advantages amounted to nothing. Our wonder ceased when we saw the seed 

 raisers setting out for their crop all manner of cabbagi baads, good, bad and 

 indifferent. Not so does Mr. Gregory of Marblehead, and since we have used 

 Mr. Gregory's seed we expect as uniform a crop of cabbagi • i of any other 

 vegetable. Even when a large and sound cabbage i- set out for producing seed, 

 it will be found that some of the lateral branches will not produce plump, heal- 

 thy seed, and all such branches should be rejected. 



In the production of all kinds of seeds of garden and field vegetables, only 

 the best formed and finest quality of roots and bulbs should be used for propa- 

 gating the species, and these should not he allowed to produce too abundantly, 

 and should be carefully cultivated in good oil bo that He eeds may have a 

 healthy organization which may he perpetuated in future generations. 



