SEEDS AND SEEDING IO3 



yield falls off and the quality deteriorates. Every- 

 one knows how common a practice it is to save the 

 largest tomatoes for seed, selecting them after they 

 have been taken from the vines, with no attention 

 whatsoever as to the characteristics of the plant as 

 a whole. A good average-sized tomato from a plant 

 producing a heavy yield of such fruit is far more 

 valuable for seed purposes than a plant producing 

 only one or two large fruits. It should be especially 

 remembered that the characters of the entire plant 

 must be taken into consideration, and that seed 

 should be selected with this in mind. When purchas- 

 ing seed, only the best and most reputable seed firms 

 should be patronized. It is well to avoid the seeds 

 usually found for sale at the hardware store or the 

 corner grocery. With a few exceptions the seeds of the 

 most reliable firms are not offered for sale at these 

 places. Novelties should be bought sparingly, and 

 it is never wise to make any large planting of any 

 new and untried variety. Upon the other hand, 

 it is always a good plan to try out in a small way 

 some of these new things as they are offered to the 

 trade. Once in a while something will be found 

 much better for the particular location than any- 

 thing planted before, and under these conditions the 

 novelty will prove extremely profitable. For persons 

 unfamiliar with the merits of the common varieties 

 of vegetables it will generally be a safe plan for 

 them to make their selection from those varieties 

 having the shortest description in the catalogs. It 

 usually requires a half-page halftone and a half- 

 page description to attract the attention of the aver- 

 age purchaser away from the standard varieties with 

 which he is acquainted and get him sufficiently in- 

 terested in a new novelty to purchase same, while 



