CHAPTER XI 



SEED GROWING 



THE growing of special crop seeds offers 

 illustrations of some of the most inten- 

 sive types of special crop development. 

 The seeds of some flowers and vegetables are 

 very valuable. The skill required in their pro- 

 duction is difficult to acquire and is possessed 

 by but few. But those who possess the skill to 

 produce these products receive handsome remu- 

 neration for the product when measured in 

 terms of weight or land area, although the re- 

 turn is not always so satisfactory when meas- 

 ured in terms of man hours. 



Flower Seed. An interesting instance of the 

 apparent large return from highly specialized 

 industries is afforded by the work of an expert 

 grower of petunia seed. This grower through 

 his independent effort worked out the laws of 

 Mendelian inheritance without knowing it and 

 successfully applied them in the commercial pro- 

 duction of petunia seed. He produces the finest 

 double petunia seed grown in the world. The 

 methods he employs are based on a knowledge 

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