Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1869-08-17
Number. 80
saving the seed.

months of all the year, in our latitudei
for saving seeds. Dame Nature always
:. makes wonderful provision for the i'm
provement Of all kinds of cereal grain
and vegetables BY concentrating large
proportion of the energies of growing
plants ii the perfect development of q
limited amount of superior seed. When
one is digging potatoes, if he has trained
his eye to observe the operations of Ma
ture, he will see now and then, as the
fubers roll out Of the hill, an excellent.
tentiop Nature has designed such spcci.
mems for the seed of a future crop. There
has been concentration of the energies
Of the growing plant in those particular
specimens; and, in some instances, those
operations have been performed at the ex-
pense of those that grew in close proximi-
ty, In almost all kinds of vegetables,
men who have taken observations on this
subject have not failed to see that Nature
always works in some way to improve the
, seeds, even of noxious weeds. In the
panicles OF carrots, rarsnips and other
vegetables, in the pods of cabbage al
4 turnips that are about going to seed,
Dame Mature indicates which should be
saved for the seed of a future crop; and,
if those seeds be saved with care and
planted, the product will never fail to be
FAR superior to what the yield would have
been were both good and inferior seed
employed.
live 60 into a field Of oats, for exam-
pie, when the crop begins to ripen, ne
shallse few large and fine pauiclcs of
grain in which are a small number Of fully
developed kernels, much superior to tho
large proportion of the crop. The same
is true with wheat, barley and rye. Those
kernels of marked superiority, should be-
saved for seed If selected with care,
and planted for few seasons in ricir
! ground, and the culis separated every
season, an animproved variety of grain will
be obtained, which will seldom fail to-
yield two bushels of plump grain, when
There is no uncertainty on this subject.
If the husbandman will perform his part
with timely care, the result will be at'
abundant crop, just as sure as the seasons
roll their accustomed round.
There can be no satisfactory computa+
ton of the loss that tillels of the soif
sustain, every year, by not sowing on their
own cultivable grounds a prime quality
of all kinds of seed When we reflect
that miserable, mixed, half-developed and
half-ripe seed of almost every product of
the field and garden, is sold to tillers of
the soil it seems almost a marvel that
even half crop is produced.
) lD many instances, large fields are ap''
!, propriated to the cultivation Of various
kinds of seeds. OF course, the seed of
I, every imperfect panicle and every unrips
;, specimen, is mingled with the good. And
:, more than this, the supply Of one year
that is not disposed of, is frequently sold
the next season We need not record
the unsatisfactory results when such seed
is planted, as most tillers Of the soil un.
derstand what they are, having become
familiar with them from animpressive ex.'
perienco in the production Of inferior
:, crops. .38.a y l@-
Round about New York, we have met
= with ''sced growers, who in some instan|
!, ces have collected the seeds Of quashes,
melons and pumpkins late in autumn, be-
J, fore they were half ripe, and those very
: seeds,-as unfit to plant as they seemed
: to be,---were put in papers and retailed
. by proprietors of seed stores, who have
2 an irreproachable reputation for dealing
: in superior seeds. These facts are allud-
: ed to simply to stimulate tillcs Of the
!. soil to commence, at oDcci saving their
|; own seeds, Of everything; and to follow
y up the practice, from year to year, and
- from one season to another. Instead Of
es pluclsing the first ripe ear of sweet corn,
10 tic red string about it and save it fol
u seed. Trim off all the small aDSclcs o.
~ carrot and other seed, and save only the
u i earliest, the largest and the best. Watch
es with daily care the development Of the
Or q first squash, tomato, and egg plant; and
4. save the seed. BY saving the seed o
4, 50 every specimen that ripens first, for few
III successive seasons, the products of th'
~ kitchen garden may be induced to ripel
int ten to fifteen days earlier than the usua
II Il period, while the yield will be far NOR
lie satisfactory, with the same cultivation
all On the contrary, let crops be produce'
sbe from that seed that ripens last, and in
he few years a good variety Of grain and vs
ice gctnble may be 50 effectually dcteriora'
his ed, as to scarcely pay for cultivation
IN ~ Y. O5serrtr-