This seed parent in one of our seed fields demonstrates the compact, 
free flowering habit of our 
Harrold’s Pedigreed Strain Pansies. Compare the adult hands. This gives an idea of the flower size 
and plant habit with good culture. Note that the flowers are well shaped, nearly round with good 
substance. Six or eight plants like this in a basket looks like a dozen or more of the kind with a 
single bloom on them and they sell twice as well. 
expected to germinate and grow well. Sometimes 
they do but they can fail unless the grower, as we 
do, has the checking of germination under labora- 
tory control and holds each lot until it has proven 
to be properly cured. 
There are other factors which are often over- 
looked in this new crop seed theory and an 
explanation of them may interest you. 
We have developed good storage conditions that 
we have demonstrated to be capable of holding 
within 5 to 8% of original maximum germination 
into the third season of storage. This being the 
case, the season following harvest shows practic- 
ally NO reduction in germination for at least 18 
to 20 months after harvest. In fact a warehouse lot 
of Pansy seeds properly stored may show a germ- 
ination test the following July or August that is 
better than that of the new crop that has been 
picked only 4 to 6 weeks. 
NOT ALL COLORS RIPEN AT THE SAME 
TIME so for that reason blending of a full seasons 
harvest is the only assurance of a proper color 
blend. Yellow shades in general bloom and seed 
earlier and more prolifically. Were we to send you 
seeds all from the first week or two of harvest you 
would complain about the color blend. As other 
colors progressively ripen the color blend changes. 
THE HARROLD ANSWER to this problem is 
formula blending of fresh seeds of the early har- 
vest with seeds of the former late harvest so as to 
give you a balanced, proper color range. It is the 
only way it can be done. And, when the seeds are, 
as ours are, kept under germination control there 
is no problem of viability. We know that the seeds 
as they leave here are capable of good production. 
That is why every one of our seed packets carries 
a serial number. 
OUR COLOR MIXTURES ARE BALANCED 
AS FORMULATED: Every lot from which we 
ship seeds is compounded from not less than 6 and 
sometimes as many as 15 various lots through the 
harvest. This depends on type of mixture and its 
character. The wider the range of color and types 
the more blending must be done for balance. 
RESULTS CAN VARY 
Despite all care in producing the seeds, pro- 
tecting the viability and color, there are of course 
still factors which can upset this carefully planned 
seed breeding and these mostly occur in the culture 
you may give. 
The most common cause of trouble with color 
blends when planting these Harrold’s Pedigreed 
seeds developes from poor germination. We base 
our color formulas on an anticipated production 
of 10,00 plants per ounce. We have had growers 
report as many as 19,000 plants from an ounce. 
We consider the former figure as a fair average 
and therefore use it as a standard for formula. 
A production near that rate will give about the 
intended color range. If you can get more plants 
your color will be better because you will retain 
many of the finer colors that are produced by 
plants with less rugged habits. If, however, your 
production falls seriously below that figure a 
larger number of your plants will be the more 
hardy Pansy predominants - yellow, blue and 
purple, and you will probably be dissatisfied with 
the color range. This is a serious consideration in 
evaluating any mixed color variety and a hazard 
in such culture, 
The planting of separate colors is but a partial 
answer to it. For one thing, because of the neces- 
sary close roguing to color and type standard, 
the seeds grown as separate colors will seldom 
produce the bloom size that is found in similar 
colors in the better mixtures. The demand for 
separate colors is not large, usually no more than 
10% of the total demand so you can’t afford to 
devote too much facility to them. 
OTHER QUALITY VARIABLES may lie in 
the culture and situation given. Wet feet from 
poor drainage in winter as well as heaving that 
breaks the tap root, caused by freezing of a too 
tight soil will result in dwarfing of the flowers and 
in severe cases the loss of the plants. For large 
flowers an adequate food supply MUST be supplied. 
These factors are all covered in our culture book- 
let that comes with each order. 
