THE GARDEN AT HOME 



marked on the home-made seed packet. In the spring of 

 1910 I told a seed grower of this and asked if he thought 

 there was any chance of its germinating. He thought 

 the chances were small, and ventured the observation 

 that after two or three years Tomato seed was, as a rule, 

 valueless. If this is generally true, then my packet was 

 the exception that is said to prove every rule, for I 

 sowed the seed, which came up splendidly. Not only 

 did it come up, but the seedlings grew into good plants 

 that eventually produced fruit. If Tomato seed that 

 was in a paper packet and stored in a drawer for nine 

 years was perfectly sound, the question as to how much 

 longer it would have remained sound if buried after a 

 natural manner, deep in mother earth, is problematical 

 and can command only a hypothetical answer. Thus 

 we are led to the conclusion that absorbing though the 

 question of seed vitality proves, it must remain a debat- 

 able subject. Conclusive tests would need to be carried 

 out for generations. 



For all practical purposes, and it is with these that 

 the gardener is chiefly concerned, new seed is, with 

 very few exceptions, preferable to old. Melon and 

 Cucumber seed two or three seasons old is preferred by 

 some gardeners. It germinates more quickly, and the 

 sooner it starts into growth the fewer the vicissitudes 

 it has to contend with and the more likely is the gardener 

 to get full crops. Some seeds for example, those of 

 Primula, and particularly if they are old will lie dor- 



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