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From the book
Homemade Contrivances, 1899
No one can, by merely looking at them, positively tell whether any
particular lot of field, garden, or flower seeds have or have not
sufficient vitality of germ to start into vigorous growth. Yet it
is a severe loss, often a disastrous one, to go through with all
the labor and expense of preparation and planting or sowing, and
find too late that the crop is lost because the seeds are
defective. All this risk can be saved by a few minutes' time all
told, in making a preliminary test, and it should be done before
the seed is wanted, and time to get other seed if necessary. Seeds
may not have matured the germ; it may have been destroyed by heat
or moisture; minute insects may have, unobserved, punctured or
eaten out the vital part of a considerable percentage.
Select from the whole mass of the seed, one hundred, or fifty, or
even ten seeds, that will be a fair sample of all. For larger
seeds, as wheat, corn, oats, peas, etc., take a thin, tough sod,
and scatter the counted seeds upon the earth side. Pour upon the
seeds another similar sod, earth side down. Set this double sod by
the warm side of the house or other building, or of a tight fence,
moistening it occasionally as needed. If very cold, cover, or
remove to the kitchen or cellar at night. The upper sod can be
lifted for observation when desirable. The swelling and starting
of the seeds will in a few days, according to the kind, tell what
percentage of them will grow-a box of earth will answer instead of
sods, both for large and small seeds. Small seeds of vegetables or
flowers, and even larger ones, may be put into moist cotton, to be
kept slightly moist and placed in the sun or in a light warm room.
For small quantities of valuable flower seeds and the like, half a
dozen will suffice for a trial test. |
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