98 
VEGETABLE GARDENING 
by machines, the greatest care should be exercised to pre- 
vent breaking the seeds or the seed coats. Windmilling is 
necessary for further cleaning of the seed. 
In securing clean seeds, vegetables such as tomatoes 
and melons must stand for some time in their juices to 
remove the mucilaginous covering. A common method 
is to throw the cut or broken specimens, or sometimes 
the pulp, into any convenient vessel, as a crock, tub or 
barrel, and stir daily until fermentation has loosened the 
covering about each seed. Then the operation may be 
completed by washing. To prevent the discoloring of 
seeds, the fermentative process should not be continued 
longer than necessary. 
After fermentation, the seeds are separated from the 
pulp and the skin by washing as often as may be required 
to obtain clean seeds. The good seeds settle to the bot- 
tom of the vessel, while pulp, skin and light seeds rise to 
the top, and may be poured off. Three or four washings 
are usually sufficient. Sieves are often used in the process 
of separation by washing. 
After windmilling or washing the seeds must be thor- 
oughly cured before storing. They should be spread in 
thin layers in lofts, or in dry, well-ventilated places until 
thoroughly cured. It is an advantage to wash early in 
the morning of bright days to facilitate drying. Seeds 
must not be subjected to freezing temperatures before 
being cured, for this invariably impairs their germinat- 
ing power. 
144. Preservation of seeds. — Seeds may be stored in 
either cloth or paper bags. The greatest enemy to the 
preservation of seeds is moisture, but the conditions in 
an ordinary living room are satisfactory, although neither 
high nor low temperatures affect the vitality, provided 
the seeds are well cured and the humidity is low. It is a 
well-known fact that seeds do not keep well in the South, 
because of the great amount of moisture in the air. The 
