CHAPTER V. 



SEEDS AND SEED GROWING. DEVELOPMENT OP VARIE. 



TIES. 



Good pedigrees in seeds are of the utmost importance in 

 order to grow good crops. No single factor that enters into pro- 

 duction of a crop is more important. Where many kinds of 

 plants are grown it is better and cheaper as a rule to depend on 

 some careful seed grower for seeds than to go to the expense of 

 raising them, although it may be best to raise a few of the more 

 important kinds of seeds for which one's conditions are best 

 adapted. When one makes a specialty of crops like onions, cab- 

 bage and some other vegetables, it is often advantageous to raise 

 the seed oneself, since their purity and pedigree are then known 

 and no risk is taken about it. 



Some seeds can be grown to better advantage in one section 

 than in another. For instance, cauliflower seed cannot be raised 

 profitably in many parts of the United States, but near Puget 

 Sound and in a few other places in this country it can be raised 

 to good advantage. Most of the cauliflower seed used in this 

 country is still imported from southern Europe. As a general 

 rule, however, the seeds raised in one*s own vicinity or in a 

 similar climate elsewhere are best to plant if they are properly 

 selected. Experience seems to show that seed grown in cold 

 climates generally produces an earlier crop than seed grown in 

 warm sections. 



Testing Seeds. — No matter how carefully our seeds may 

 have been raised or who the person is from whom we received 

 them it may save much trouble and loss to test them before 

 sowing. This may be done by sowing them in a box of fine 

 loam kept at a temperature of from 60 to 70 degrees. The 

 temperature of an ordinary living room is about right. For 

 this purpose use a box about four inches deep and the size ol 

 a soap box; sow the seed in shallow drills and cover the bo5 



V 



