IV. CULTIVATION IN GENERAL. 



their kind, our gardens would soon present us with little 

 besides mere herbage. 



77- As to the causes, I will not here dive into them. 

 Suffice it, that we know, that sorts will mix, when seed- 

 plants of the same tribe stand near each other 5 and we 

 may easily suppose, that this may probably take place 

 though the plants stand at a considerable distance apart, 

 since I have, in the case of my Indian corn, given proof 

 of mixture, when the plants were three hundred yards 

 from each other. What must be the consequence, 

 then, of saving seed from cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, 

 squashes, and gourds, all growing in the same garden at 

 the same time ? To save the seed of two sorts of any 

 tribe, in the same garden, in the same year, ought not to 

 be attempted ; and this it is, that makes it difficult for 

 any one man to raise all sorts of seeds good and true. 



78. However, some may be saved by every one who 

 has a garden -, and when raised, they ought to be 

 carefully preserved. They are best preserved in the pod, 

 or on the stalks. Seeds of many sorts will be perfectly 

 good to the age of eight or ten years, if kept in the pod 

 or on the stalks, which seeds, if threshed, will be good 

 for little at the end of three years or less. However, to 

 keep seeds, without threshing them out, is seldom con- 

 venient, often impracticable, and always exposes them to 

 injury from mice and rats, and from various other ene- 

 mies, of which, however, the greatest is carelessness. 

 Therefore, the best way is, except for things that are 

 very curious, and that lie in a small compass, to thresh 

 out all seeds. 



