Seeds for the Garden 127 
To prevent pollina- 
tion by insects, the 
pistillate flowers are 
bagged shortly before 
they open. As the 
stems of squash flowers 
are tender and brittle, 
special care must be 
used to prevent injury 
to them. : 
‘ gt Fic. 78. Two squashes grown from the same 
Keeping varieties packet of seed purchased for summer crook- 
true to kind. After neck. Both have the characteristic color of 
. the crookneck, but the one on the left is en- 
valuable kinds of tirely distinct from the crookneck in shape. 
plants have been pro- 4 verton suck as ths may be the ren 
duced, the seedsman_ to new varieties. 
still has the problem of keeping them true to type. 
Even the best varieties of vegetables produce some 
worthless plants and plants not like the parent 
stock; also many varieties of garden plants cross- 
fertilize easily. Therefore the well-known and stand- 
ard varieties must be kept true to kind in seed 
breeding by preventing accidental cross-pollination 
between varieties and by discarding, either as seed 
or pollen parents, the plants that are not true to the 
variety. 
The different varieties of the same species nearly 
always cross readily. If grown close together, they 
may bloom at the same time, and insects or the wind are 
likely to bring about cross-pollination. Different kinds 
of beets, of radishes, of corn, and of many other plants 
may be grown at a distance from each other, or the seed 
