Good seeds are the very first requisite for a good garden; soil and
culture cannot make good crops out of bad seed.
1. As a general rule, _buy your seeds_. The reasons for it are so many
and so good, that you will certainly do it, unless _economy_ prevent;
but it is better to economize elsewhere.
In the first place, seed-raising is a delicate business; and, for many
reasons, will be better done by those who make it their business, than
by those who do not. A reputable seedsman never dreams of raising,
himself, all the seeds which he sells. For example, one sort of seed
is let out to a farmer who contracts to raise it in a given soil and
manner, and at a distance from all other seeds. One man raises the
beet seed—another man, very often hundreds of miles distant, another
sort. Peas are sent to Vermont and to Canada, where the pea-bug does
not infest them. Some seeds, for which this climate is not favorable,
are imported from Italy, from Guernsey—just as flowering bulbs are
from Holland. We suppose this to be true of Landreth, Thornburn,
Prince, Bliss, Risley, etc. In cases where seeds are raised upon the
premises of the seedsman, they are put on different parts of the farm,
as far apart as possible.
Those precautions are indispensable to the procuration of the _best_
seeds of esculent vegetables. Species of the same genus, with open
flowers, are so easily _crossed_, that, if grown contiguously, they
cannot be kept pure. All _cucurbitaceous_ plants, such as squashes,
pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, gourds, etc., will mix and degenerate if
planted even in the same garden. Let any one who wishes to see how it
is done, watch the bee covering itself with golden pollen as it
searches for honey in the cells of the flower, and darting off to
another, mingling the fertilizing powder of the two. In a single
morning, cucumbers will be mixed with each other, and with
canteloupes; squashes will be crossed, and in the next generation will
show it. Where the organs of flowers are protected, as in the pea,
bean, etc., by a floral envelope, insects do not mix their pollen. I
have never known pure beet seed raised in a private garden which had
more than the single kind in it—or when another garden was near which
had other sorts.
We prefer, _generally_, northern seeds to those raised elsewhere. A
mere change of soil and climate is often advantageous to seeds. But
besides this, greater care and skill are usually employed at the north
in producing sound and safe seeds.
We can recommend, from repeated trials, the seeds of Risley, Chatauque
county, N. Y., and of Mr. Breck of Boston. Landreth of Philadelphia
has a high reputation; so have the veteran Thorburn of John Street,
and the enterprising house of B. K. Bliss & Sons of Park Place, New
York.
2. Some seeds retain their power of germination to an astonishing
length of time, as will appear from facts stated by Prof. Lindley:
“Not to speak of the doubtful instances of seeds taken from the
Pyramids having germinated, melons have been known to grow at the age
of 40 years, kidney beans at 100, sensitive-plant at 60, rye at 40;
and there are now growing, in the garden of the Horticultural Society,
raspberry plants raised from seeds 1600 or 1700 years old.” (See
“Introduction to Botany,” ed. 3, p. 358.)
But in selecting seeds, _fresh_ ones should be had if possible. Where,
however, the vegetable is cultivated for the sake of its flower, or
its fruit, it is sometimes better to select old seed. Thus balsamines
(the touch-me-not) and the cucumber, squash and melon tribe do better
on seeds three or four years old; for fresh seeds produce plants whose
growth will be too luxuriant for producing fruit; whereas from old
seed, the plants have less vigor of growth but a greater tendency to
fruit well.
We insert a table, exhibiting the years which different seeds will
retain their vitality.