THE FARM VEGETABLE GARDEN 407 



lands his own productions and impartial descriptions are seldom to be 

 found. A variety well adapted to one locality may bo utterly unsuited to 

 another. Experience alone will enable one to meet this problem in a 

 satisfactory way. Selections ought to be made and orders placed early in 

 the season, in order to avoid disappointment and to allow time for testing. 

 Many well-known seed houses are striving to supply good, clean, viable 

 seed that is true to type. Packet seeds found in grocery stores may be more 

 or less unreliable. Many local seed houses carry excellent stock, however. 



To the gardener who is able to devote a bit of extra time to his plot, 

 no hobby is more fascinating than the selection and saving of seeds from 

 his own plants. There is always wide variation in excellence and these 

 differences are inherited to a greater or less degree. By careful attention 

 for a series of years, remarkable progress may be made in increasing the 

 returns from a given area. Selections should be made on the basis of the 

 individual plant rather than that of the individual fruit. The amateur 

 plant-breeder should first clearly establish in his own mind a definite ideal. 

 If he changes his ideal from year to year, no progress will be made. Con- 

 siderable care should also be exercised in the harvesting, curing, labeling 

 and storing of his seed crop. 



Seed that will not start growth will certainly not produce a crop and 

 such should be eliminated before the garden is planted by means of careful 

 germination tests. A definite number of seeds may be counted out and 

 planted in a small box of soil which should be placed under good growing 

 conditions as regards moisture and temperature. Other tests which are 

 less thorough may be made by the use of blotters, cloth, porous dishes and 

 the like. These, however, indicate only whether seed will sprout or not. 

 They do not afford knowledge as to whether the seed is able to establish in 

 the soil a plant that is of sufficient vigor to grow independently of the supply 

 of food material which is stored within the seed coats. The final test con- 

 sists in growing the crop to maturity. 



Growing Early Plants. — Every gardener is anxious to mature his crops 

 at the earliest possible moment and to this end he is willing to employ 

 special equipment and special methods. He selects the varieties which 

 grow most rapidly and sows the seed long before outdoor planting is pos- 

 sible. He aims to have plants of such vigor and hardiness that they will 

 make steady growth in spite of unfavorable conditions which they may 

 encounter. These early plants enable him to more fully utilize the space of 

 his garden, to care for both soil and plants more easily, to secure a better 

 root system and in some cases larger yields. 



Early plants may be started in window boxes in the house and may 

 later be set directly in their permanent place, or the seed may be sown 

 indoors and the seedlings transplanted to the cold-frame for hardening 

 before they go to the garden. Whether in greenhouse or hotbed and cold- 

 frame, the temperature should be relatively low, ventilation free, watering 

 not too heavy and sunshine unimpeded. These conditions make for stock- 



