GROWING SEED CROPS 



145 



to 30,000 acres of vegetable seed crops, yet a very 

 small proportion of the farmers of the country 

 can easily produce all the seed needed, and a slight 

 over-production results in a surplus and a conse- 

 quent reduction in the contract prices that seeds- 

 men are willing to offer, so that generally a seed 

 crop is not especially profitable. 



One who has soil and climatic conditions espe- 

 cially adapted to the growing of some particular 

 vegetable, and who is familiar with its culture, 

 but who is situated where he cannot handle profit- 

 ably the ordinary farm product, can frequently 

 grow seed to advantage. The cultural require- 

 ments of a seed crop are not different from those 

 of a crop for market except in the harvesting 

 and curing of the seed, and these features are 

 not especially laborious or expensive. Careful 

 attention and the doing of the work at the proper 

 time are the real essentials. Sweet corn, peas 

 and beans are grown and the seed harvested and 

 cured in the same way and at no greater ex- 

 pense than is required for a crop of the grain, 

 except that it is more important to gather, cure 

 and handle these in such a way as to secure a 

 bright sample and to avoid mixing in seed from 

 other crops. The yields that may be expected vary 

 greatly with different varieties, but generally are a 

 little less than those of field sorts. The prices paid 

 are usually somewhat higher, so that the seed crops 

 are often more profitable than the grain crops. 



With tomatoes, cucumbers, melons and other 

 pulpy fruits, the fruits are allowed to ripen and 

 the early-maturing ones to get a little over-ripe but 

 not soft, so that the bulk of the crop can be gath- 

 ered in one to three pickings. The fruit is crushed 

 by passing through rollers, and the seeds are sepa- 

 rated from the skins and coarse pulp in a slowly- 

 revolving cylinder of wire netting of such size 

 as to allow the seed and fine pulp to pass through, 

 while the skin and coarse pulp pass out at the end. 

 The cylinder is set at an angle and revolves slowly 

 so that the seed will all be shaken out into a vat 

 or into a simple board-lined pit in the ground, and 

 only the coarse pulp pass out at the open end of 

 the cylinder. The seed and liquid pulp is then 

 allowed to ferment for a few days, care being 

 taken that there is no water or rain added while 

 fermenting. As soon as the mass is sufiiciently 

 soured so that the seed will slip clear of the pulp 

 (2 to 10 days, according to temperature), it is sep- 

 arated and washed by passing it through a trough 

 or sluice box of slowly-moving water. The seed 

 settles to the bottom to be removed by perforated 

 scoops, while the pulp floats off and away. The 

 seed is then rapidly dried by spreading very thinly 

 and stirring. If the seed is allowed to stand in a 

 mass when wet, it will speedily be discolored or rot 

 and become worthless for seedsmen. 



The cost of separating and curing the seed after 

 the fruit is gathered is much less than one would 

 suppose, and with the best conveniences need not 

 exceed five to ten cents a pound, according to va- 

 riety. Very little special machinery is required in 

 vegetable seed-growing, and most of this can be 

 constructed on the farm. 



B 10 



In Fig. 226 is shown a side view of a horse- 

 power machine for seeding cucumbers, melons, 

 summer squashes, tomatoes and other pulpy crops. 

 The cut shows the machine ready for work, except 

 that the reel is shown without the wire netting 

 with which it should be covered. This netting 

 should be of stout wire and of one-half-inch mesh, 

 or a little larger. The reel is about three and one- 

 half feet in diameter and six feet long. Its upper 



Fig. 226. Machine for seeding pulpy vegetables. The net- 

 ting about the cyelinder is omitted. 



end is formed of two common bent felloes of buggy 

 ' wheels, bolted together so as to break joints ; the 

 lower end has no rim except the selvage edge 

 of the piece of wire netting. The reel is built on 

 a shaft connected with the trundling rod from the 

 power and the shaft of the roller by knuckle joints. 

 These allow the reel to be given any desired incli- 

 nation by raising or lowering the journal block in 

 the jack which supports the lower end. The vat is 

 simply a hole in the ground lined with boards so 

 as to keep dirt out of the seeds but allow the juice 

 to soak away into the soil. In practice the vat 

 should be made deeper than is shown and have 

 guard boards to prevent the seeds and juice flying 

 from the reel out on the ground. It will be neces- 

 sary to set the machine where there will be no 

 danger of rain or other water soaking or running 

 into the vat. In Fig. 227 the same machine is 



Fig. 227. Detail of seeder shown in Fig. 226. 



shown with the hopper and reel taken off, and the 

 frame tipped forward to show the rollers as if we 

 were looking down on them. The rollers should be 

 made of hard wood, and are about sixteen inches 

 long and twelve inches in diameter, having eight 

 grooves about three inches wide and one and one- 

 half inches deep, cut with a spiral of one cog. The 

 teeth or cogs are about one and one-half inches 

 wide and would be better if faced with strap iron. 

 The rollers might be made of soft wood and the 

 teeth faced with iron, but they would be much in- 



