CHAPTER XIII 



Seeds and Seeding 



The value of good seed in vegetable gardening 

 can hardly be overestimated. On account of the 

 high price of the land usually employed, and the 

 heavy expenses per acre involved, securing a good 

 stand of plants is of much greater importance than 

 with the ordinary farm crops. The most successful 

 gardeners have always appreciated the value of 

 obtaining the best available seed, but the real im- 

 portance of this practice has not been fully appre- 

 ciated and understood until recently. The primary 

 essentials of good seed are purity, vitality and 

 genuineness or trueness to name. 



Vegetable seeds are usually comparatively free 

 from impurities. Few weed seeds are to be found 

 because of the manner in which most vegetable 

 seeds are harvested. Sticks, stones, chaff, broken 

 stems, seeds, etc., are of more common occurrence, 

 but their presence is usually evidence of imperfect 

 or careless cleaning. In general, it may be said that 

 the serious prevalence of impurities in most garden 

 seeds may be taken as direct evidence of dishonesty 

 or extreme carelessness in cleaning. Impure seed 

 carries with it many disadvantages. Poor stands 

 will be secured, because not as much actual seed is 

 sown as supposed. Several dollars per pound will 

 not be considered an exorbitant price to pay for the 

 seeds of many vegetables, but these figures are high 

 for weed seed, dirt and trash. In connection with 

 impurities it is well to remember always that certain 

 kinds are to be looked upon as so much inert 



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