The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-03-31
Garden Seeds.

The seedsmen are out with their attract
i've illustrated catalogues of seeds, and the
usual amount of new sorts that are offered
at high prices Shy the packet only" that are
sure to be the best, earliest, and most pro-
ductive, etc. The scotsman is very USE
full person; to his enterprise we are indebted
for many new valuable vegetables and
flowers, and when we can't. do better we
always go to him for seeds, and sometimes
are not disappointed with the result of using
such seeds as he sells; but any gardener of
experience knows that the best seeds of some
kinds never get into his hands, or "hardly
ever" The reason is evident; it costs too
much care and trouble to produce the best
seeds of cucumbers, melons, cabbage, onions
and some other sorts, they do not sell high
enough in market to pay for the trouble OF
producing them.
The care needed for producing onion seed,
for example, with pedigree" that Is sure
to produce early ripe bulbs with no scallions,
and that will keep well, is SO great that no
gardener could do it for 81 to Sc per pound,
the usual price in market, and yet any one
who proposes to grow onions can better
afford to pay 500 per pound for such seed
than to accept as a free gift the ordinary
good seed of the stores. With cabbage it is
the same; when it has been selected with
proper care, not one plant in hundred will
fail 10 produce good head, and with no
more labor or expense than is required to
grow the same number of stumps and
punches of leaves from inferior seed.
Even the best seedsmen often disapoint us
with their cabbage seeds. They no doubt
do the best they can and / do not dispute
their honest intentions, but good farmer
can do better. In general there is less
difficulty in buying good seeds of peas, beans,
corn and potatoes than OF the vegetables
mentioned above, but care III the selection
of all vegetable seeds is well worth the
effort and time required, if one cares to
prosper.
Where large variety OF vegetables are
grown, as is the case upon most market
gardensit would be too much of a burden
to grow and save all seeds required upon
the farm; it is usual for each farmer in any
neighborhood to make specially of some
sorts of seed, and his neighbors usually de-
pend upon him for such seeds, and grow
others to exchange or sell; thus in the
village OF Arlington, large quantities of most
excellent seeds are grown by the farmers,
that never find their way to market, and are
sold at very high prices to those who know
their worth. The scotsman. however, should
not be blamed unjustly, he. often has to
bear the blame for seeds failing, when the
fault lies only with the ignorant or careless
hand who plants them. Seeds that are as
good as can be grown will fail to come up
when they are covered too deeply, or when
not covered enough, or when the weather is
too cold or dry or wet.
In general, fine seeds should be covered
very lightly and kept moist by watering or
mulching, Tender seeds should not be
sown too early in spring unless one cares to
be at the risk of replanting in case of fail
ure. The lima beansis often sown too early
nd too rarolooo1u N uhOY,ld houo the
sometimes fails in cold storms as we'll as
cucumbers and melons and has to be re-
planted. The covering of seeds planted
early in spring should be light, not more
than half as much as is required later in
the season when the ground is hot and dry.
w. D. Philbrick in N. E. Farmer.