tomatoes, melons, eggplants, cucumbers, squash and pumpkins, those 
plants which produce a heavy, early, and desirable crop are better 
for seed production than those plants which produce only a very few 
early fruit. The earlier in the season the fruits are allowed to develop 
for seed, the better the resulting seed will germinate. 
In securing clean seeds, vegetables such as tomatoes and melons, 
must stand for some time in their juices to remove the mucilaginous 
covering; usually, the cut-up pieces are put into a wooden tub or 
barrel and are stirred every day until fermentation has loosened the 
covering around the seeds. To prevent discoloration, stop the fer- 
menting process just as soon as the seeds are ready; then, remove the 
pulp and skin by washing the seeds three or four times. The pulp, 
skin, and bad seeds come to the surface of the water and are 
poured off. 
In the case of the root crops, such as turnips, radishes, beets, 
carrots, etc., side roots, roughness or lopsidedness are to- be avoided. 
Select the most desirable roots when harvesting the crops, because 
then the foliage will assist in estabUshing a uniform strain. 
A bright day should be chosen for harvesting the crops and the 
plants should be thoroughly dried. When drying seed, spread it so 
that it win dry as soon as possible. Frequent stirring hastens drying 
and prevents the seed from sticking together when dry. Never spread 
the seed on tin, or on glass. Spread it on paper, cloth, boards or sieves. 
When wet seeds are first spread on newspapers, for instance, the paper 
will quickly absorb much of the moisture from the seed. If after a 
few minutes, the seeds are placed on fresh papers, the drying process 
will be further hastened. 
Never let partly dried seeds be exposed to freezing. Place the 
dried seeds in cloth bags and never store them in air-tight tins. To 
do so may cause them to become musty or to heat up, thereby ruining 
their germination. Label the bag on the outside according to the 
variety and date of saving the seed. Since many kinds of vegetable 
seed will germinate well for several years, it will be more convenient 
to grow enough seed at one time to last as long as the seed germinates 
well. However, when growing such seed as beets, celery, lettuce, 
spinach, etc., in large enough quantities to last more than one year, 
it will be more convenient not to clean out the final httle pieces of 
foreign matter until these seeds are to be sown. This saves con- 
siderable work, and incidentally the seed will keep better. When 
storing seed for the winter, it should be properly labeled, stating the 
kind and variety, and also the year in which saved. 
Those vegetables which are biennial are: 
