PART II. HORTICULTURE 



CHAPTER I 

 PROPAGATION BY SEEDS AND SPORES 



PROPAGATION by seeds is the most general method of 

 plant production. Most of the annuals, many of the 

 flowering perennials and forest trees, and some of the 

 shrubs are propagated by seeds. Even our fruit trees come 

 from seeds planted in the nursery, which are later grafted 

 or budded before transplanting to the orchard. 



Seeds. A seed is a small living plant in a dormant 

 state, with a sufficient amount of plant food to maintain 

 it until it can manufacture its own. Each kind of seed 

 differs from that of every other kind, but it is often diffi- 

 cult to distinguish between some of these kinds. Cab- 

 bage and cauliflower seed, for example, are similar in most 

 characteristics. As different plants may be identified 

 by the variations in their foliage, flowers, stems, and fruit, 

 so seeds may be identified by the variations in their form, 

 size, color, taste, smell, and texture. 



Testing Purity of Seeds. --The value of seeds depends 

 first, upon their purity. Large seeds like corn and beans 

 are generally pure, that is, they are not mixed or adulter- 

 ated. Small seeds, such as those of our grasses and clovers, 

 are likely to be mixed with weed seeds, dirt, chaff, and 

 other useless and often harmful foreign matter. White 

 clover, winter vetch, alsike clover, orchard grass, Cana- 

 dian blue grass, and red clover are especially liable to 



