Buy Seeds in Advance 



407 



who desires detailed information should go to special lit- 

 erature. 



3. THE SOWING OF SEEDS 



The gardener should buy his seeds in bulk and in ad- 

 vance, if possible, if he is growing large areas and for a 

 critical market. He can then demand the best. He will 

 also secure a cheaper rate. It may even be well to engage 

 them of the seed dealer a season in advance, to be sure that 

 he has the kind and quantity he desires. Since seeds are 

 poor in some seasons, it is well for him to keep at least 

 a partial stock on hand from year to year, particularly 

 of those kinds that retain their vitality for several years. 

 He is then relatively independent. The gardener who 

 grows largely for a special market of such important crops 

 as beet, carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, melon, let- 

 tuce, radish and tomato, will do well to purchase double 

 the quantity of seed he requires for the one season, in order 

 that he may preserve stock of the strains that prove to be 

 particularly desirable. The capital thus locked up in seeds 

 is small, as compared with the risk of being unable to 

 secure a desirable strain. 



Congenial temperature and a continuous supply of mois- 

 ture are the two requisites of germination to be provided 

 by the gardener. He provides these agents by placing the 

 seeds in a loose, moist, granular medium, as mealy and 

 friable soil. If this soil lies on other soil, the moisture is 

 drawn up by capillary attraction and as it passes off it 

 moistens the seeds and promotes germination. If the soil 

 is very loose, open or lumpy, the capillary attraction is 



