Nebraska advertiser., 1858-10-14
Farm and Garden.
AChanfer on Seed.SaYing,

A ACnHpteF on Seeu.SdVlng.
We do not believe, as a general rule,
that it is advisable for the market gar
Gener. the private gardener, or the anna
teur, to save all his own seed. We are
not going to recommend this. Seed
growing is a business of itself-and so it
ought to be-for when conducted honest
ly, Systematically and scientifically, it
can be cheaper done, and better done,
than in saving by mere driblets IN a small
or large garden where other objects are
primary and this only secondary.
Seed-raiSing, too, is one of the most
important branches of Horticultural pur-
suits, and requires to be conducted with
care, skill and honesty; for what is more
provoking and annoying, and worse still,
the positive and irreparable loss it invol-
yes, to find, after much labor and time
bestowed, that you have been cultivating
spurious, perhaps worthless variety
The loss of the cost of the seed is COM
paratively nothing to the loss of time, la
Dor and the season gone. Yet how often
does this occur? The grower is entirely
at the mercy of the seed-raiser, and he
should, first of all, make it point to OBJ
tain his seed from the most reliable source
that can be had, even if il be at higher
cost than can somewhere else be found,
and the next is the exception to the rule
above limited at. He should endeavor to
save such kinds of seed as are apt to
prove uncertain, and which it is of the
-,,l Sly
he may save such kinds as are easily saw
ed, and take but little of his valuable time
during the busy season. There are some
kinds which it does not pay the trouble
of saving, as the satisfy, for instance,
which if not gone over every day and
collected, will blow away and be lost, but
this is less liable to be inferior than ma.
ny others, as there is nothing commonly
grown that will mix with it. 1t may
however be set down as an axiom, that if
you really possess a superior variety of
= anything, it IS worth little extra trouble
, to save it, (and we have known persons
possessing varieties, the equal of which
, could not be purchased in any Of the seed
r stores.) If you have such, save with
; Jealous care. Select out plants, and let
them be the best for seed, and they will
: go on improving under your hands.
, Another point Is, as all plants are
! liable to sport or vary, you may often find
Improvement in an individual plant, in
r It's edible qualities, whether vegetable or
: fruit, and, as like produces like, by saw
ing the seed from it, you may retain and
: fix that Improvement, though possibly
you may lose it again, but you should al
: ways proceed on that principle, to select
for seed the most mature and perfect OF
S its kind.
S But we did not set out to dwell on gen
q, eralities, but intended to particuIarize
) some varieties which we consider the
most desirable to save All kinds thai
can be hung up or otherwise stored away
= to be threshed and cleaned out in winter
= and that includes quite number may be
q saved, but never save two varieties Of
K the same species that ripen at the same
time, as they will be sure to mix and
cross at quite long distance. This may
e be obviated with lettuce, radish and sev.
eral other things, by saving one at time
e and so on in succession, if you have sevc
raj varieties.
t Turnip blood beet is very often founC
improved by being crossed with light col
e ored varieties. a good coIored variety
once possessed may easily be retained by
= saving your own seed.
But we think the most troublesome t
# get pure, and at the same time the mos
important, is the cabbage family. Their,
Il are so many varieties and they cross ant
hybridise so easily that they are oftene
found impure and spurious than any 9th
ers, and when they are thus crossed, the,
/ are often so spoiled as to be utterl'
r worthless. The cabbage viii nix witt
4 and so destroy the CaulifOwer and brocoI
n that they will not produce a head, an
e rice versa, so that in saving cabbage see
ID you should not by any means allow an
other plant of that family to be in fowe
D. at the same time.
is Pumpkins and squash cross very frecl
v and also the different varieties of tn
Of mush and watermelon. and 1t is impossibl
G to presume any given variety true, if ther
e are others in proximity to it. Thes
* facts are pretty well known, but are to
l. often neglected when they should not be
st 1t is not so much for want of knowledg
Of these matters we believe, as it is a sol
Of CareleSsncsS, and a want Of refectlo
in the after consequences, and whether
r be the professional seed-grower, or tn
gardener growing for his own use, L
J. one can be too particular on the subje
q of hybridizing, and thus injuring the Y;
E. riety, nor in selecting the first and be
ps Of every kind for seed.-ValIcy Farme
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