March 23, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



139 



has also come to the Arboretum from the Spath Nursery, at 

 Berlin, under the name of Clematis paniculata. 



It flowers regularly every year in the Arboretum, and 

 usually ripens an abundant crop of fruit early in October. 



Our illustration is made from a drawing taken by Mr. 

 Faxon from one of the plants in the Arboretum.* 



c. s. s. 



Cultural Department. 

 Should Farmers raise their own Vegetable Seeds ? 



T J NDER the above title, in the Report for 1889 of the Penn- 

 ^ sylvania Experiment Station, is given the result of one 

 year's observations upon this question. No subsequent report 



practice is generally attended with the complaint tliat the va- 

 rieties are not as good as they were originally. It is true that the 

 fruits taken for seed are not carefully selected, and they are not 

 gathered until the plants are past their prime condition. A 

 careful seed-grower will, however, take the best fruits only, 

 which practice tends to the improvement of varieties rather 

 than their degeneration. Again, the farmer does not give the 

 same careful cultivation to his vegetables, nor is he likely to 

 have as rich a soil as the commercial seed-grower is certain to 

 choose for that purpose. The subject seems worth some at- 

 tention. The following is quoted from the first report: 



" The question in its scientific aspect presents itself in the 

 following form : Are seeds which have matured under high 

 cultivation (as on our best seed-farms) better for our less en- 

 riched farm-soils than seeds which have matured in these 

 poorer soils ? Tlie answer must be found in a comparison of 



rig. 22. — Clematis brevicaudata. — See page 138. 



has been made, although the experiment has been carefully 

 continued upon the same basis. It is a somewhat common 

 practice among farmers to "save seeds" from the vegetable- 

 garden of such plants as seed readily the first year, and the 



$ • Clematis brevicaudata was described when it first flowered in America as Cle- 

 matie Pieroti, another Asiatic species. Garden and Forest, i., 357. 



results regarding earliness, productiveness, vigor and quality 

 of the products. The conditions at the station are favorable to 

 the work, and last year seeds were gathered from the best of 

 those vegetables that seeded. The ground in which they grew 

 is not a rich garden-soil, but only an ordinary farm-soil. These 

 seeds were planted this year (1889) along with seeds of the same 



