42 



PROPAGATION AND 



[chap. 



TRUE SEED. 



64. But, besides the kiiid, there is the genuineness to be con- 

 sidered. For instance, you want sugar-loaf cabbage. The seed 

 you sow may be cabbage : it may, too, be sugar-loaf, or more that 

 than anything else : but, still, it may not be true to its kind. It 

 may have become degenerate ; it may have become mixed, or 

 crossed, in generating. And thus, the plants very much dis- 

 appoint you. True seed is a great thing ; for, not only the time 

 of the crop coming in, but the quantity and quality of it, greatly 

 depend upon the trueness of the seed. You will have plants to 

 be sure ; that is to say, you will have something grow ; but you will 

 not, if the seed be not true, have the thing you want. 



65. To insure truth in seed, you must, if you purchase, take all 

 the precautions recommended as to sort of seed. It will be seen 

 presently that to save true seed yourself is by no means an easy 

 matter. And, therefore, you must sometimes purchase. Find a 

 seedsman that does not deceive you, and stick to him. But, ob- 

 serve that no seedsman can always be sure. He cannot raise all 

 his seeds himself. He must trust to others. Of course, he may, 

 himself, be deceived. Some kinds of seed will keep good many 

 years ; and, therefore, when you find that you have got some verg 

 true seed of any sort, get some more of it : get as much as will 

 last you for the number of years that such seed will keep ; and, to 

 know how many years the seeds of garden plants will keep, see 

 paragraph 150. 



SOUNDNESS OF SEED. 



66. Seed may be of the right sort ; it may be true to its sort ; 

 and yet, if it be unsound, it will not grow, and, of course, is a 

 great deal worse than useless, because the sowing of it occasions 

 loss of time, loss of cost of seed, loss of use of land, and loss of 

 labour, to say nothing about the disappointment and mortification. 

 Here, again, if you purchase, you must rely on the seedsman ; and, 

 therefore, all the aforementioned precautions are necessary as to 

 this point also. In this case (especially if the sowing be exten- 



