SEED. 35 



selecting good seed; but especially of planters either 

 raising their own trees, or buying only from those they 

 Jcnow to be careful, intelligent, and honest. There are 

 such, we know, and we are also sorry to know that there 

 are some who are not such. Each class pursues its own 

 course in the procurement of the seed. The one gives an 

 order for so many bushels, for which a certain price will be 

 paid; the order is filled with such seed as can be procured 

 at the price, leaving a margin for profit to the factor. The 

 other employs local agents in sections in which good seed 

 is known to abound, with instructions to purchase nothing 

 but pure seed. When the time arrives for collecting it, 

 the foreman, or some other reliable practical man, is sent 

 to inspect it, and all that is not first-rate is rejected. In 

 this way the nurseryman's reputation is established, and 

 his business becomes large, profitable, and permanent. 



The greater part of seed for the Eastern markets is 

 obtained in the eastern shore counties of Maryland and 

 Virginia, especially in the latter, where the old natural 

 orchards have not yet given place to those of budded fruit. 



The price of good seed varies from fifty cents to five 

 dollars per bushel, according to locality and the abun- 

 dance of the peach crop. About two dollars is the ordi- 

 nary price. The greater part of our natural seed is now 

 procured in Eastern and Central Tennessee, and the 

 average price is about one dollar per bushel in Eastern 

 markets. 



It requires from five to twelve bushels of seed to the 

 acre, according as the nurseryman plants it closely or 

 widely. In the North they usually plant from seven to 

 ten inches apart, while on the Peninsula only two and a 

 half and three. In the latter they expect to, and do, rear 

 from ten to twelve thousand first-class trees to the acre. 



