Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-04-01
agricultural department.
fOriginal.l
SEED.

In this country very few persons pay that
attention to selecting seed for planting that
they should. Many farmers think that if
seed will germinate, or in common language,
"come up that is all that is necessary. This
is an error of great consequence. Like pro-
duces like in more respects than one. What
is true in the animal kingdom, is true also in
the vegetable kingdom. 1t is, we believe, a
well.established fact that children frequently
inherit disease from their parents. Thus we
hear it often said that such and such families
are scrofulous, or coEsumptive, or subject to
this or that disease. Some horses are blind.
Now, no one expects to find strong hearty
men or women in those families that are scrof-
ulous; and every stock raiser would fear the
colts of blind mare would be blind like
herself. 1t is true that every member of a
family in which scrofula is hereditary, may
not be affected with that disease, and the
colts Of a blind mare may have good eyes; but
in both cases the perfect issue will be the ex-
ception. We might ask the question, "Why,
according to the analogy of nature, should we
expect shriveled and decaying seed Of vegeta-
bles, to produce strong and vigorous plants ?"
The truth is, poor seed is not as good as strong
and vigorous seed.
Another fact is worthy of attention in this
connection. In some latitudes, certain plants
will partially flourish, but not mature so as
to furnish good seed. Cotton, in our climate,
will, as it is correctly said, run out. This is
the case with any vegetable that is cultivated
in latitude in which it is not indigenous.
Corn is indigenous in all the Southern States !;
in fact in most sections of the United States.
In this latitude we should get our cotton seed
from places south of us; but it matters very
little where we get our corn seed from, provi-
ded it is good kind Of corn. Plants, like
animals, become acclimated. Corn will ma
ture much faster in northern latitudes than it
will in southern. Hence, the early varieties
of corn that are often introduced in this coun'
try, from the north, will ripen later each sue
cessive year. Farmers ought to study the
laws of nature about this thing, and select a
kind of seed suitable to their land. On thin
lands it is better to plant kind of corn that
does not produce large stalk and large ear ;
but kind that makes only medium sized
stalk and ear. If the land is thin and the
kind of corn planted on it is large kind, the
probability is that the strength of the soil
will be expended in making stalk and there
will be no ear at all. On rich, fertile low
lands, a different kind should be planted. In
order to insure large ear, we must have Il
large stalk. Poor up.lands cannot support
the large stalk, but rich bottoms can.
The principle holds good respecting wheat
and oats. Wheat will not flourish to do any
good in tropical climate. At the equator it
will not reproduce ITSELF The same is true
respecting Irish potatoes. In some Of the
equatorial Islands, the Irish potatoes produced
will not germinate. These, with many other
facts, indicate to us the necessity Of selecting
seeds from their proper latitudes. A change
of seed in the same latitude, from one kind of
soil to another, often is of great advantage.
Every farmer of any observation knows that
on the same plantation, some field or even
parts of the same field, are better adapted to
one kind of crops than others. Some good
corn lands are not good for cotton, whilst
good cotton lands are often poorly adapted to
the growth of corn. Now it is evident that it
is better to select seed corn out of field
adapted to the growth of corn, than out of one
not adapted. Cotton planted on some kinds
of land will run out much sooner than it will
on; others whilst cotton seed selected from
plantation poorly adapted to the growth Of
cotton, and planted on a plantation adapted
to the production of cotton, will actually i'm
prove. The selection of good seed requires
but little expenditure of time, and is to most
men of practical turn of mind, intensely in
teresting. The proper place to make the Sc
lection is the field. A patch of everything
should be planted or sown by every farmer
for the special purpose Of making seed.
Whilst the crop, whatever it may be, is matur-
ed in the field, it should be carefully examin.
ed and the most perfect specimens only saved
for planting.