SEEDAGE 



pared soil in the open, may lie as great as 

 Viability varies with seasons ami other 

 While it is true as a general statement th; 



\ rt till- revi 



SEEDAGE 



1041 



tin 

 rthii 



the seed the less the vial 

 true withiu narrow liini 

 melons that germinate oi 

 germinate 70-sO per eeut i 

 In order that seeds sh 

 supplied with moisture an 

 ture. The reipiisite teui 

 with the ditfereut kinds 

 determined oidy 'o experieuc 

 in any iiirdiuin whirh suppl 

 tious. Although st-eils are ordinarily 

 ground, sueh praetiee is not ne'eessar\- tn gr 

 They may he planted in coeoanut Hlj|-r, m.is 

 medium. HoweviT, the 'ground may sujiply 

 sites for gertninatinn. and it also supplies 

 for the young plantlet when it h.-gins l,, shift 



Iv .ill |ier rent 

 1, Aprd. 

 ill ^'rrminali 

 a lir ^-iv.'n a<li 

 [Mfai iir.- aiui iiiMJ 

 .>f sr.Ms. :mi.I X\u-\ 

 S(-M'(|s iiKiy 

 tlii'sr ro("iiii 



')0 (ler criit. 

 coiulitidii.s. 

 .t the oUh^r 

 rsc Yiiny he 

 rltUL-c "ami 

 iK'crinlirr. 



'v iiuist he 



I'' teRt|M-TM.- 



-;tUL-i' \ ar\' 



I'l 



uf 



, furtli. 



iM hr 

 I 0(1 



idi- 



the 

 riiiina.tinn. 

 s or (itliei- 

 the renui- 

 l^aiif-fiKMl 

 I'or itself; 



'. tlie iilants ai'e in {]■ 

 tliev :ire de 



2290. Germination complete 

 — Castor Bean. 



|M>siti(Hi ill -wiiirh 

 iroil h) i;-ruw. lu 

 the case uf iiiaiiy seeds, 

 gerniiuatiou is nuire rapid 

 and eertaiu when the seeds 

 ari.- siiwii in cuedaiiut filier 

 i.T other niediniii, for llx.' 

 couditions may be more niii- 

 fi")rm. As soon as g;ermina- 

 tion is fairly coin]i]ete. the 

 plants are traiisjtlaiited U> 

 thesoil. The depth at whirh 

 seeds shall be s<i\vn ih-- 

 pends ou many cundirimis. 

 Out of doors tbey are 

 idaiited deeper than in the 

 iiouse. in order to insure a 

 uniform snpply of moistnre. 

 A .lepth equal to t\vi(.-e the 

 diameter nf tlie seed is an 

 old gardeners ' ml e. Th i s 

 api»lies well to the sowiiii^- 

 of most seeds under ghiss 

 ■when the soil is well prepared and is kept watereil, but 

 in the open ground three to four times this depth is 

 usually necessary. The finer and luoister the soil, the 

 shallower the seeds may be planted, other things being 

 equal. Better results in germination are secured when 

 the seeds are sown in a specially prepared seed-bed. 

 The conditions may then be better, the gardener is able 

 to protect the young plants from cold and from insects 

 and fungi, and he is enalded also to economize time and 

 labor. In transplanting from the seed-bed to the field. 

 the gardener unconsciously chooses only the best plants 

 and thereby the crop is improyed. The seed-bed may be 

 in a forcing-house or hotbed, or in the open. If it is in 

 the open, it should be near the buildings, where it can 

 be visited frequently' and where water may lie applied 

 as needed. If the bed is to be used late in the season 

 when the soil is naturally dry, it is well to cover it the 

 previous spring or fall with a very heavy coating of ma- 

 nure. This retains the moisture, and the leaching from the 

 manure adds plant-food to the soil, there- 

 by enabling the young plants to secure CS 

 an early start. When the seeds are ^-^ ^•^'^ > 



to 



xiN 



be sown, the manure is removed and the 



surface is then in ideal condition. In the 



handling of young plants in seed -beds 



one must take pains that 



the plants are not too thick 



and that they do n-d suffer 



for light, else they moy 



becoine "drawn" and be 



practically worthless. In 



greenhouses and hotbeds, 



it is well to handle common vegetables and flower ; 



in gardeners' flats (Fig. '2293). These flats are easily 



handled, and the soil is sn shallow that it can be kejit 



in unifoiTu conditions of temperature and moisture. The 



seeds of some of the finer and rarer kinds of ornamental 



plants require special treatment. These treatments are 



usually specified in the articles rlevotpd to those plants. 



Details of the handling of very delicate seeds are well 



discussed in the article on Orchids. 



As a rule, seeds germinate liest when they arc fresh, 

 tha.t is, lesis than (.ne year (d<l. Some seeds, h<.>wever^ 

 "f wlii(di thitse of melons. ]iiiniiikiiis and cucumbers are 

 examples, retain their vitalily nniiii|iair(d for a number 

 of years, and gardeners do not ask for recent stock. 

 See<ls of corn sahid slmuld be a year id<l to germinate well. 



Liws and viburnums, often 

 ■ond year. In the mean- 



\'ery hard, b.my see.ls, as -d' 

 ih) not gerniinale until ihe si 

 time, however, they 

 shouhl l)e kepf moisl. 

 Seeds of most IruJt ami 

 fnrest trees sliuuld iie 

 kept nedst and mol, 

 otherwise tluA- lose y']- 

 tality ; \ et if "kept ten, 

 nndst, and particularly 

 too clos(^ or warm, tlie\ 

 will s|ioil. Nuts and 

 hard seeds of har(i)' 

 plants usually ].rofit l>y 

 being bnrie<l in sand 

 and alhi\ced to freeze. 

 The freezing and tln^ 

 nu:iisture sot len an; 

 s])lit the integuments. 

 fc>ometinies tin' se.->ds 

 are placed bet ween al- 

 ternate layer.- (d' sand 

 or sawdust : sn(di prac- 

 tice is known techni- 

 cally as stratilicatiuH. 

 L. H. I^.. 

 Seed Breeding-. — The 

 marvelous industrial 

 and ci.>nimercial devel- 

 o]iment whicli has char- 

 acterized the latter part 

 of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury is nowhere more 

 marked than in the art 

 and practice of seed 

 g r w i 11 g. Whatever 

 niav have bei-n their- 

 intellectual belief, most 

 planters have acted, ui> 

 to within a few years, 

 as if seed w^as indeed 

 essential to the pro- 

 duction of a crop, but 

 only in the way that 

 water and manure are 

 essential. The only 



("luestion was whetlier or not the seed would gro^y. It 

 might be desirable that the seed all be of some particu- 

 lar kind so that the crop would ripen all at once, but 

 beyond that the breeding of the seed was given very 

 little consideration. It is only within a few years that 

 a majority of even good cultivators have come to recog- 

 nize in their practice the fact that the possibilities and 

 limitatit.ms of a crop are as positively determined by the 

 seed used as is the character of the fruit of an orchard 

 by the trees of which it is composed. There have al- 

 ways been exceptional men, who fully appreciated the 

 importance of seed selection and breeding, which they 

 practiced within their own gardens to secure a supply 

 for their own use, but even professional seedsmen 

 formerly gave little heed to scientific seed breeding, be- 

 ing quite content to "rogue" out mixtures or ]n)orer 

 plants rather than to select and breed only from the 

 be.st. Now. every seedsman win:) values bis repulati<in 

 maintains more or less extensive stindv s<;'ed farms, 

 wdiere pla.ntdtreeding is conducted on the same princi- 

 ■|)les and with the same sort of skill and care that is 

 used in the breetling nf animals. 



The general method followed is first fi. form a clear 

 conception of just what ]-ndids "v qualities gi\e ^^ahu^ to 

 a variety and 'what a (.rrfect plant of that stut should 

 be. Then a few plants — say ten— whicli. cnnn- as near 

 this ideal as possible are selected and the see<l of each 

 saved separately. These se]iarate lots are ]danfeil the 

 next spring in contiguous blocks, and the ]ilants given 

 an opportunity for their most perfect developnient. -As 

 they approach maturity the lots are carefully examined. 



2292. Germination complete 

 Indian corn. 



