Brussels Sprouts 1450 



evitable shelling out of the seed. The seed stalks are pressed and 

 trod into the barrel until it can hold no more, and it may then be 

 set aside until a convenient time for cleaning the seed, in case the 

 stalks are very dry; but usually it is safer to remove the stalks 

 from the barrel and dry them in the sun for a few days, spreading 

 them on a blanket or canvas. The pods are then readily stripped 

 from the stalks by drawing through the hand, and this same oper- 

 ation shells practically all the seed from the pods. The seed is 

 readily shaken to the bottom on the blanket or in the barrel, and 

 easily cleaned by pouring from a pail when a breeze is blowing. 

 This seed is obtained a little too late for planting in the same 

 season, and is used nearly a year later. Two-year-old seed is 

 frequently used in event of the failure of the seed crop, for most 

 growers retain enough annually to provide for such an emergency. 

 The older seed germinates a little more slowly than the fresh, but 

 is otherwise just as good, and the extra day or two is of no moment. 

 Under no circumstances would one of these growers resort to the 

 ordinary stocks of seeds on the market, as these have been tried re- 

 peatedly in a small way, and always proved disappointing; the 

 plants have usually been tall and vigorous, but with only a few 

 soft, scattering sprouts, or none at all. The Long Island seed is 

 immensely superior to the ordinary and undoubtedly the best in 

 the country, if not in the world. It is apparently too high-priced 

 for the dealer, bringing locally fifty to seventy-five cents an ounce, 

 while the prevailing wholesale price elsewhere is about fifteen 

 cents. It is scarcely necessary to add that the seed is easily worth 

 the difference. It used to bring sixteen dollars a pound. One 

 hundred plants will in good season produce ten to fifteen pounds 

 of seed, or at the rate of 500 to 750 pounds per acre. 



