194 GARDENING FOB THE SOUTH. 



other varieties, the seed is crossed with them and the 

 most valuable qualities of the variety lost. The cabbage 

 may be late or longrlegged, and not head at all, or the 

 radish tough and misshapen. 



Preserving Seed.— The very finest plants should be 

 chosen for this purpose — that is, those most true to their 

 kind and most perfect in shape and quality. In the cab- 

 bage, for instance, a small, short stem, well formed head 

 with few loose leaves; in the turnip, large bulb, small 

 neck, few, short and slender-stalked leaves, and solid 

 flesh. In the radish, high color (unless white), small neck, 

 few and short leaves. In the case of flowers, seed should 

 be saved only from those most perfectly developed. 



Great care should be taken to preserve the varieties 

 unmixed, for, as just stated, if varieties of the same spe- 

 cies, or very similar species, are planted near each other, 

 they will cross and produce untrue seed. In this way, it 

 is true, valuable varieties often originate, but the chances 

 are that the produce will be worthless. There can be no 

 cross between a cabbage and a carrot, because they are 

 of totally different families, and there is no similarity; 

 but all the varieties of cabbage will cross with each other, 

 wilh Brussels sprouts, in short with all others of the 

 genus Brassica. So of corn; in a few years the early varie- 

 ties from the North, planted in Southern gardens, become 

 so intermingled with the ordinary sorts, that the early 

 character is lost. The difficulty of keeping seeds pure 

 renders it advisable not to save seeds of two varieties of 

 any species the same year, except in large gardens. Many 

 kinds of seed it is more advantageous to buy of the regu- 

 lar seedsmen than to grow ami save them at home. The 

 finest seeds in the world are grown where an amateur 

 makes one or two species of plants, like Truffaut with 

 Asters, a specialty, using every possible care for their 

 improvement. 



