GARDEN SEEDS.Goodseeds are the very first requisite for a good garden; soil and culture cannot make good crops out of bad seed.1. As a general rule,buy your seeds. The reasons for it are so many and so good, that you will certainly do it, unlesseconomyprevent; but it is better to economize elsewhere.In the first place, seed-raising is a delicate business; and, for many reasons, will be better done by those who make it their business, than by those who do not. A reputable seedsman never dreams of raising, himself, all the seeds which he sells. For example, one sort of seed is let out to a farmer who contracts to raise it in a given soil and manner, and at a distance from all other seeds. One man raises the beet seed—another man, very often hundreds of miles distant, another sort. Peas are sent to Vermont and to Canada, where the pea-bug does not infest them. Some seeds, for which this climate is not favorable, are imported from Italy, from Guernsey—just as flowering bulbs are from Holland. We suppose this to be true of Landreth, Thornburn, Prince, Bliss, Risley, etc. In cases where seeds are raised upon the premises of the seedsman, they are put on different parts of the farm, as far apart as possible.Those precautions are indispensable to the procuration of thebestseeds of esculent vegetables. Species of the same genus, with open flowers, are so easilycrossed, that, ifgrown contiguously, they cannot be kept pure. Allcucurbitaceousplants, such as squashes, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, gourds, etc., will mix and degenerate if planted even in the same garden. Let any one who wishes to see how it is done, watch the bee covering itself with golden pollen as it searches for honey in the cells of the flower, and darting off to another, mingling the fertilizing powder of the two. In a single morning, cucumbers will be mixed with each other, and with canteloupes; squashes will be crossed, and in the next generation will show it. Where the organs of flowers are protected, as in the pea, bean, etc., by a floral envelope, insects do not mix their pollen. I have never known pure beet seed raised in a private garden which had more than the single kind in it—or when another garden was near which had other sorts.We prefer,generally, northern seeds to those raised elsewhere. A mere change of soil and climate is often advantageous to seeds. But besides this, greater care and skill are usually employed at the north in producing sound and safe seeds.We can recommend, from repeated trials, the seeds of Risley, Chatauque county,N. Y., and of Mr. Breck of Boston. Landreth of Philadelphia has a high reputation; so have the veteran Thorburn of John Street, and the enterprising house of B. K. Bliss & Sons of Park Place, New York.2. Some seeds retain their power of germination to an astonishing length of time, as will appear from facts stated byProf.Lindley:“Not to speak of the doubtful instances of seeds taken from the Pyramids having germinated, melons have been known to grow at the age of 40 years, kidney beans at 100, sensitive-plant at 60, rye at 40; and there are now growing, in the garden of the Horticultural Society, raspberryplants raised from seeds 1600 or 1700 years old.” (See “Introduction to Botany,”ed.3,p.358.)But in selecting seeds,freshones should be had if possible. Where, however, the vegetable is cultivated for the sake of its flower, or its fruit, it is sometimes better to select old seed. Thus balsamines (the touch-me-not) and the cucumber, squash and melon tribe do better on seeds three or four years old; for fresh seeds produce plants whose growth will be too luxuriant for producing fruit; whereas from old seed, the plants have less vigor of growth but a greater tendency to fruit well.We insert a table, exhibiting the years which different seeds will retain their vitality.TIME THAT SEEDS WILL KEEP.YEARS.Asparagus4 or 13Balm2Basil1 or 3Beans1 or 2Beets8 or 10Borage2Cabbage6 or 8Carrot1 or 7Celery6 or 8Corn2 or 3Cress2Cucumber8 or 10Caraway4Fennel6Garlic3Leek3 or 4Lettuce3 or 4Mangel Wurtzel8 or 10Marjoram4Melon8 or 10Mustard3 or 4Nasturtium2 or 3Onion3Parsley5 or 6Parsnip1Pea2 or 3Pumpkin8 or 10Pepper5 or 6Radish6 or 8Rue3Ruta Baga4Salsify2Savory3 or 4Spinage3 or 4Squash8 or 10Turnip3 or 4
Goodseeds are the very first requisite for a good garden; soil and culture cannot make good crops out of bad seed.
1. As a general rule,buy your seeds. The reasons for it are so many and so good, that you will certainly do it, unlesseconomyprevent; but it is better to economize elsewhere.
In the first place, seed-raising is a delicate business; and, for many reasons, will be better done by those who make it their business, than by those who do not. A reputable seedsman never dreams of raising, himself, all the seeds which he sells. For example, one sort of seed is let out to a farmer who contracts to raise it in a given soil and manner, and at a distance from all other seeds. One man raises the beet seed—another man, very often hundreds of miles distant, another sort. Peas are sent to Vermont and to Canada, where the pea-bug does not infest them. Some seeds, for which this climate is not favorable, are imported from Italy, from Guernsey—just as flowering bulbs are from Holland. We suppose this to be true of Landreth, Thornburn, Prince, Bliss, Risley, etc. In cases where seeds are raised upon the premises of the seedsman, they are put on different parts of the farm, as far apart as possible.
Those precautions are indispensable to the procuration of thebestseeds of esculent vegetables. Species of the same genus, with open flowers, are so easilycrossed, that, ifgrown contiguously, they cannot be kept pure. Allcucurbitaceousplants, such as squashes, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, gourds, etc., will mix and degenerate if planted even in the same garden. Let any one who wishes to see how it is done, watch the bee covering itself with golden pollen as it searches for honey in the cells of the flower, and darting off to another, mingling the fertilizing powder of the two. In a single morning, cucumbers will be mixed with each other, and with canteloupes; squashes will be crossed, and in the next generation will show it. Where the organs of flowers are protected, as in the pea, bean, etc., by a floral envelope, insects do not mix their pollen. I have never known pure beet seed raised in a private garden which had more than the single kind in it—or when another garden was near which had other sorts.
We prefer,generally, northern seeds to those raised elsewhere. A mere change of soil and climate is often advantageous to seeds. But besides this, greater care and skill are usually employed at the north in producing sound and safe seeds.
We can recommend, from repeated trials, the seeds of Risley, Chatauque county,N. Y., and of Mr. Breck of Boston. Landreth of Philadelphia has a high reputation; so have the veteran Thorburn of John Street, and the enterprising house of B. K. Bliss & Sons of Park Place, New York.
2. Some seeds retain their power of germination to an astonishing length of time, as will appear from facts stated byProf.Lindley:
“Not to speak of the doubtful instances of seeds taken from the Pyramids having germinated, melons have been known to grow at the age of 40 years, kidney beans at 100, sensitive-plant at 60, rye at 40; and there are now growing, in the garden of the Horticultural Society, raspberryplants raised from seeds 1600 or 1700 years old.” (See “Introduction to Botany,”ed.3,p.358.)
But in selecting seeds,freshones should be had if possible. Where, however, the vegetable is cultivated for the sake of its flower, or its fruit, it is sometimes better to select old seed. Thus balsamines (the touch-me-not) and the cucumber, squash and melon tribe do better on seeds three or four years old; for fresh seeds produce plants whose growth will be too luxuriant for producing fruit; whereas from old seed, the plants have less vigor of growth but a greater tendency to fruit well.
We insert a table, exhibiting the years which different seeds will retain their vitality.