40 FIGTOBIAL FEAGTIGAL VEGETABLE GROWING. 



and it is much the most satisfactory to get a fresh supply each 

 year. ^ ^ ' ^ 



The saving of seed at home might be commendable if cultivators 

 would remember the all-important fact that only the best specimens 

 should be selected, but, as they hardly ever do, duty demands that 

 the practice should be condemned. Stock breeders who relied upon 

 the worst specimens of their stocks and herds for breeding would 

 soon find themselves beaten. Only the best examples of the various 

 crops should be chosen for saving seed from. 



I know of one cultivator who has a strain of home-saved Ailsa 

 Craig Onion which he has had for twelve or fifteen years, and which 

 is better now than when he first got it, although it was purchased 

 from one of the very best sources. He has maintained its excellence 

 by saving seed only from the deep bulbs ; the flat ones he has other- 

 wise disposed of. 



Few growers appreciate the many points in seed growing, saving 

 and harvesting, or the trouble taken by the principal seedsmen in 

 keeping their stocks good and pure ; in fact, I do not see how they 

 could possibly do so unless they had been through the mill them- 

 selves. Seed doctoring is now a thing of the past. The great seeds- 

 men vie with each other in honourable rivalry as to who can produce 

 the best stocks. To this end, the rows of every variety are carefully 

 scrutinised, and plants differing from the type are noted, to be 

 marked for future use if new and good, to be pulled out and 

 destroyed if inferior. This process is termed " rogueing." Only by 







z^p 

















a 



z/ 



— zjf — \ 







FIG. 15.-A 

 HANDY SEED 

 STORE. 



Get a dozen 

 large match- 

 boxes, glae the 

 frames to- 

 gether, and 

 glue a piece 

 of tape to the 

 bottom of each 

 box. Paste a 

 label on the 

 front of each 

 (see p. 41), 

 and you have 

 a handy set of 

 seed drawers. 



