SEED GROWING 107 



Vegetable Seed Growing. At the present 

 time vegetable seeds are usually grown on the 

 contract system, the stock seed being supplied 

 by the contractor under number at a given price, 

 the product to be paid for at an agreed figure. 

 Under this system varieties have become gen- 

 eral mixtures and the trade has in a measure 

 lost its character. There is little inducement 

 for improvement and little hope for high grade 

 seed under this system. The plan produces 

 good seed when judged on the basis of viabil- 

 ity, but high-grade seed should be distinctive 

 and true to type. 



A few growers are making a specialty 

 of selecting and breeding high-grade seed. 

 These growers demand and are able to secure 

 an extra price for their produce. When 

 the work is carefully and conscientiously done 

 the grower can well afford to pay from fifty to 

 two hundred per cent, more for select seed. 

 The advantages are higher viability, which 

 means a better stand; trueness to type, which 

 means a more uniform product and more even 

 maturity, factors of the greatest economic im- 

 portance in commercial garden operations. 

 The men who are carrying on such work are so 

 few that their output makes little impression 

 on the trade. The writer knows of but two 



