CHAPTEJl XVII 



SEEDS AND SEED AGE 



■ Most vegetable-gardening crops are grown directly from 

 seeds. Therefore, the character of the seed is of vital im- 

 portance to the vegetable-grower, whether he is an ama- 

 teur or a commercial man. The grower is interested in 

 seeds from these points of view: (1) whether they are 

 viable; (2) whether the sample is unadulterated, carrying 

 no seeds of weeds and no foreign matter; (3) whether the 

 seeds are true to name; (4) whether they represent an 

 improvement on the variety or strain, or at least maintain 

 the merits of it. The quality of the seeds may determine 

 both the quality and the yield of the crops. Land, fertil- 

 izing, seeds, — these are the essential considerations at the 

 beginning in the growing of vegetables. 



1. THE TESTING OF SEEDS 

 Seed tests are of three leading kinds: (1) to determine 

 the purity or content of the sample as respects admixture 

 of foreign matter; (2) to determine viability; (3) to de- 

 termine whether the variety is true to name or kind. 



Testing for purity or content, and for viability or ger- 

 minating power, are relatively simple. 



But the determination of the nature of the sample as 

 concerns its trueness to name and its peculiarities attained 



(307) 



