The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1908-04-10
SEED AND SEED BEDS.
BY Prof. Sandsten, Wisconsin Expert
ment Station.

| Seed-The saying that Whatsoever
a man soweth that also shall he reap"
applies with equal force in relation
! to seed as it does to ethical matters.
! II the seed is not of the best We can
/ not expect to obtain strong and Wig
/ OrOuS plants Weak seeds will pro-
/, duce weak plants and so will mixed
i seed produce mixed and uneven stand
. of plants in the field and these of
! necessity command lower price in
the market. Every tobacco grower
should see that the seed he is using
t is of the kind that produces the high
est quality of leaf with a maximum
/ yield. The yield alone should not be
a criterion. The quality and yield
must both be satisfactory If the crop is
| to be a paying one. In saving seed,
only the strongest and most typical
/ plants should be selected, and only
| seed from the central or main seed
stalk of the plant should be taken.
| The side branches or those coming out
late in the season should be taken off
| so as to throw the strength of the
| whole plant into the development of
| the central seed stalk. If the whole
| plant is left undisturbed to produce
seed more than half of the seed thus
| produced will be inferior in quality,
weak and large portion immature.
| Further the plants intended for seed
| should be left alone, that is to say,
| the leaves should not be picked off
| and utilized until the seed is>ripe, be-
| causei the leaves are necessary to
| the plant in order to elaborate plant
| food for the proper nourishment of the.
plant When the leaves are picked
| off the food supply for the seed stalk
| is curtailed and the seed will suffer
| in proportion to the number of leaves
on the plant picked off. What the deal
ers and the manufacturers demand is a
round or broad leaf in proportion to
| its length, as this kind of leaf can be
used more economically by the manu-
| facturers Hence the Importance of
choosing the best plant for the pro-
duction of seed is apparent. The seed
should be thoroughly cleaned and the
weak seeds should be removed leaving
only the strong and vigorous ones to
be sown in the seed bed. By a system
of selecting plants for seed, as indi-
Gated, the grower can constantly I'M I
prove the quality as we'll as the guam
tity of his crop. Any efforts put forth
in watching the field for typical
plants will be more than repaid in re-
TSnlts' obtained, [ know that this sys-
tenn of selecting seed will seem to
many growers as unnecessary, tedious,
and expensive, but the growers should
realize that no advancement can be
made without efforts, and that modern
agriculture demand closer attention
to details, such as the selection of
proper seed and the general care and
cleaning of it. Further, the matter
| of selecting seed plants and seed is a
small matter, as a relatively small
number of plants is necessary to pro-
| duce enough seed for the average
planter. After the seed is harvested
care should be exercised in keeping
seed heads dry before the seed is
shelled out and afterwards the seed
must be kept in dry, airy place. The
seed should never be placed in a
| closed vessel, as the seeds are living
things and require a constant supply
of oxygen for the maintaining Of it's
| life even though the seed appear to be
dormant.
| 1t is further important that the
| grower should test his seed before it
is sown in the seed bed. A simple but
efficient method of. testing seed may
| be described as follows: Take two
| pieces of cotton flannel, the size and
| shape of an ordinary plate, dip These
| in water and wiring out the surplus
| water. Spread one of the pieces on
| plate with the hard side up, and
count out one hundred seeds and place
| these on top of the cloth. Cover with
| the other piece, hard side down, and
| cover with another plate to prevent
/ Il ~ +I,n 701o
1.-The seed tester some where where
the temperature will be from go to 70
degrees and fairly constant. At the
end of ten days the seed tester may be
opened and the number of seeds that
have sprouted counted The number
sprouted will give the percentage of
| termination The seed tester should
be watched to see that the cloths do
! not dry out, and if they should be-
come dry, slight application of water
should be made, SO as to keep the
cloths moist The average tobacco
/ seed should test from sixty to seventy
five per cent, while selected and we'll
cleaned seed should test up to ninety.
| Seed Beds-It is safe to say that the
/ chief cause of failure in last years
crop was the difficulty in obtaining
/, early plants As consequence the
! plants were set late and did not have
time to mature before frost came.
! This condition is apt to happen quite
often in Wisconsin, and the grower
should be prepared to guard against
being caught with no plants on hand
/ at the time of planting. The seed bed
then is one of the most important fac
tors in connection with tobacco grow
/, ing. There are two ways in which the
farmer may grow his plants and have
them ready in time for early planting;
| first, by the use of cold frames; sec
| ond, by the construction and use OF
hot beds.
! Cold frames will undoubtedly be pre-
| ferred to hot beds because they are
| cheaper to construct and more easily
| managed on the ordinary farm. The
! cold frame may be constructed as fol
| lows: Select a place SO situated that
| it will get the benefit of all of the sun