Seeds for the Garden 133 



best plants are left standing for seed, both parents will be 

 good. 



The biennials (plants that blossom in the second year 

 from seed and then die) require more attention than the 

 annuals. In the more northern parts of the United 

 States, to secure seed of the beet, carrot, cabbage, and 

 turnip, the roots must be carefully stored over winter 

 where they will not be frozen, and replanted the following 

 spring. This treatment may be difficult for the average 

 gardener, because he may not have a proper storage 

 place. Plants of salsify and of parsnips, however, can 

 be left in the ground over winter, and in the spring some 

 of the plants with the best roots may be transplanted 

 to a convenient place and left to mature their seeds. 



Seed of crosses do not breed true, and if varieties of 

 the same plant grow near each other and bloom at 

 the same time, they usually cross. This is especially 

 true of corn, beets, various members of the cab- 

 bage tribe, cucumbers, melons, tomatoes, and lettuce. 

 Thus, cabbage will cross with kohl-rabi ; any two sorts 

 of cucumbers may cross ; and all sorts of muskmelons 

 can hybridize. But cucumbers will not cross with 

 muskmelons, as is commonly believed. If only one 

 variety of a given vegetable sort is grown in a garden, 

 there is, of course, no chance for crossing with other 

 varieties unless another garden is near by. 



Early and late varieties that bloom at different times 

 have no opportunity to cross. The first ears of an early 

 corn, like Golden Bantam or Malcolm, are not usually 

 crossed with late varieties growing in the same gar- 

 den. In a few of the garden crops, peas and beans 



