110 Principles of Plant Culture. 



Seeds are shorter-lived in warm than in cooler cA- 

 mates. 



The most satisfactory method of preserving seeds in 

 quantity is to enclose them in bags of rather loose tex- 

 ture and of moderate size, and to store them in a cool, 

 dry and airy place. 



167. Age of Seed as Affecting the resulting Crop. 

 Seeds grown the same or the preceding season produce, 

 as a rule, more vigorous plants than older seeds. They 

 may not, however, in all cases produce plants that are 

 most productive of fruit or seed, for excessive vigor is 

 generally opposed to reproduction. Cucumber and 

 melon plants grown from seed three or four years old 

 are often more fruitful than those from fresh seeds. 

 In crops grown for parts other than fruit or seed, fresh 

 seeds are undoubtedly preferable, but in crops grown 

 for seed or fruit, fresh seed may not always give as 

 large returns as seed of some age. This subject needs 

 further investigation. 



168. How Drying Affects the Vitality of Seeds. The 

 vigor of seeds is probably never increased by drying 

 them, but the seeds of most annual and biennial plants 

 may become air-dry without material loss of vitality. 

 The seeds of many shrubs and trees, however, lose vital- 

 ity rapidly by such drying and those of some species 

 are destroyed by it. In nature, seeds of the latter class 

 are usually dropped from the parent plant before be- 

 coming dry and are soon covered by leaves or other litter 

 that keeps them moist. Nurserymen either plant such 

 seeds as soon as they are ripe, or if of species that do 



