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We again draw attention to the following points — 
ON THE RAISING, GROWING, CLEANSING, AND 
TESTING OF SEEDS. 
First Germination of First Germination of 
Carters Challenger Balsam. Carters Holborn Standard Lettuce. 
The prominence we have given to our Trade Mark “ Tested Seeds ” over so long a period has 
repeatedly given rise to the question. “ What do you mean by Tested Seeds ? h Believing that the raising, 
growing, testing, &c., of Seeds will be a matter of interest to our Customers, we take this opportunity of 
giving an illustrated explanation of some of the methods that were employed leading up to the introduction 
to the gardening world of such well-known Peas as Telephone, Stratagem, Daisy, Michaelmas, 
Anticipation, Mayflower, Harvestman, International, Quite Content, &c., &c., a process which 
frequently involves seven to eight years of patient observation and labour before a new introduction can be 
placed with confidence before the attention of our Customers. 
We have selected culinary Peas as our illustration because they are more easily identified in a 
photograph, but analogous methods have to be pursued in the improvement of all varieties of Vegetables 
and Flowers, a work which we have made — and still continue to make — a special feature of our business. 
Indeed, it is now a matter of history that our House has been responsible for some of the most important 
improvements in Vegetables and Flowers far too numerous to mention here. 
Let us assume that one of our Experts has observed a promising seedling, produced from cross- 
fertilisation the previous year in our experimental grounds : its merits and characteristics are carefully noted 
in our Garden Registers. Possibly it may produce an extraordinarily large pod, like Quite Content, or it 
may be earlier, later, taller, more prolific and compact, &c., than any other variety shown in our 
comparative trials to be in commerce. 
The produce of the plant is then carefully harvested and sown the following spring, when it again goes 
through the same routine, may be for six or seven years, to secure constancy and fixation of its special 
characteristics ; the produce by this time may have increased to several bushels, when it is ready to be sown 
for a crop. Ground that is particularly suited to the variety is carefully selected, and the Seed is sown. 
In the early summer, when the plants are in maturity, our Experts, who have watched the character of 
the Pea ever since it was a seedling in our experimental grounds, examine every plant, eliminating any that 
show a weakness or lack of uniformity; the crop is then harvested, stacked and threshed, and eventually comes 
to our warehouse to be cleaned, hand-picked, and finally tested for germination. The subsequent processes 
of testing, & c., we have pleasure in illustrating with notes on the next pages. 
Correspondence , RA 1 A r £S DARK, LONDON, S - W . 1912. 
B 
