THE HOME LOT. 



561 



and everything that checks or stops upward radia- 

 tion keeps the heat back and saves the plants from 

 a chill. The piece of paper spread over a plant 

 acts as an inverted umbrella to keep the heat down 

 and thus bathe the plant in warm air. A very 

 slight protection will prevent this upward radiation 

 and carry a sensitive plant like the tomato over a 

 cold night, thus prolonging its usefulness for a 

 week or more. 



HAPPY HARVEST TIME. 



September is the harvest month of the home lot. 

 The last crops are now ripening, and naturally 

 enough there is a feeling that all the good things 

 sent from the garden to the table should be re- 

 peated next year. Why not pick out some of these 

 tomatoes, melons, cucumbers or noble ears of 

 sweet corn and save the seed for next year? There 

 is no reason why you may not. It is merely a ques- 

 tion whether it is best for you to do so. As a gen- 

 eral rule, people who have home lots are employed 

 or engaged in some other business, and time has to 

 be considered. It may be cheaper for you to buy 

 seeds than to save them. The seedsmen, as a 

 class, are more careful, more accurate in their se- 

 lection of varieties, and certainly quite as honest as 

 we who buy their seeds. In some instances they 

 can and do produce seeds far cheaper, and sell 

 them too, for a lower price than we could save 

 them. It is therefore generally best to buy seeds 

 rather than to try and save them. On the other 

 hand, you may have some very choice variety that 

 you wish to keep ; you may not mind the few mo- 

 ments' easy work in extracting, drying and packing 

 the seeds of fruits or vegetables in your own gar- 



den. It is best, however, to save only corn, to- 

 mato, squash, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, peas 

 and beans. The seeds of onions and the roots, beets, 

 etc,, celery, spinach, etc., are rather more difficult 

 to gather, and it is best to buy them. If you do 

 have a tomato you wish to save, select the largest, 

 finest and ripest fruit, cut it open, and take out 

 the seeds and wash them in water. The fruit can 

 be easily rubbed or washed out, leaving the seeds 

 floating in the water. By a little care they can be 

 strained out and should then be spread on sheets of 

 paper in the sun and air to dry. When dry, rub 

 them together to separate them and put in sealed 

 envelopes, carefully marked with the date of gather- 

 ing (year) and the name of the variety. Melon, 

 squash, cucumber and pumpkin seeds can be 

 cleaned and dried in the same way. Corn may be 

 simply hung up in the ear till dry and kept safe 

 from mice. Peas and beans should be fully ripened, 

 dried and then shelled. Of course, this means a 

 little trouble and some care that no mistakes be 

 made in names of the varieties. Thousands of 

 owners of little home lots all over the country do 

 save their own seeds, and in many cases it is a 

 good plan to do so. At the same time, it is not 

 best to save the seeds of any one variety year 

 after year. In time the seeds become feeble, and 

 it is best to try new seeds from plants growing in 

 another place. This is particularly true of potatoes ; 

 new roots from another kind of soil grow bet- 

 ter than those that are, in a sense, too much at 

 home. Home staying people often become nar- 

 row. Perhaps plants, too, like a change of scene 

 and soil. 



