PROPAGATION AND ClIAP. 



you have got some very true seed of any sort, get some 

 more of it j get as much as will last you for the number 

 of years that such seed will keep ; and, to know how 

 many years the seeds of garden plants will keep, see 

 paragraph 150. 



SOUNDNESS OF SEED. 



67. SEED may be of the right sort; it may be true to 

 its sort 5 and yet, if it be unsound, it will not grow, and, 

 of course, is a great deal worse than useless, because the 

 sowing of it occasions loss of time, loss of cost of seed, 

 loss of use of land, and loss of labour, to say nothing 

 about the disappointment and mortification. Here, again, 

 if you purchase, you must rely on the seedsman j and, 

 therefore, all the aforementioned precautions are neces- 

 sary as to this point also. In this case (especially if the 

 sowing be extensive) the injury may be very great j and, 

 there is no redress. If a man sell you one sort of seed for 

 another ,- or, if he sell you untrue seed ; the l&w will give 

 you redress to the full extent of the injury proved ; and 

 the proof can be produced. But, if the seed does not 

 come up, what proof have you ? You may prove the 

 sowing; but, who is to prove, that the seed was not 

 chilled or scorched, in the ground ? That it was not eaten 

 by insects there ? That it was not destroyed in coming 

 up, or in germinating ? 



6S. There are, however, means of ascertaining, whether 

 seed be sound t or not, before you sow it in the ground. I 



