The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. | Page 9

easily enough. So you can be sure
whether old seed is worth planting. Now it happens that father had
some of his last year's corn and some from four years ago. So I took
100 seeds of each. If you test small seed like lettuce, The Chief says 50
seeds will do. These I put on blotters just as Pete did his. Of course, I
kept them separate. From last year's seed 90 seeds sprouted out of the
100, or 9/10 of them. And that equals 90 per cent. If all seed was 90 per
cent. good it would be all right to use, I think. Now when I looked at
the four-year-old seed, what do you think? Only five seeds had started.
That makes only 1/20, or 5 per cent. Of course, no one would care to
use seed where only 5 per cent. of the seed sprouted."
"Is there any real percentage of germination that seeds should have?"
Jack asked eagerly.
"Yes," replied The Chief, "although value as you see from George's
experiment is lost by age. The real standard germination value for corn
is 87 per cent., for beans 90, for turnips 90, for peas 93, etc. You can
see that the per cents. for these vegetables run high. So do not use seeds
when the per cent. has dropped too low.
"Has George found out the time when other seeds lose value?" asked
Peter. "I did not work this table out because I did not have the old seed
to work with," replied George, "but The Chief gave me a book to look
it up in. I have printed on our press the table. So you fellows may each
have a copy." George handed the sheets around the table.
It happened that The Chief had a little old printing press that he had

presented to the Club. Club real estate, Albert called it.
GEORGE'S TABLE
AGE OF SEEDS FOR PLANTING PURPOSES
2-3 years. 3-4 years. 5-6 years. 8-10 years. Corn Tomato Beet Pea (5-6)
Cucumber Celery Pepper Lettuce Radish (4-5) Melon Carrot Onion
Turnip (3-6) Squash Bean Parsley Pumpkin
"Now, George," Albert begged, "give us a table of germinating per
cents."
"Not much, each fellow can work out the value of his own old seeds
and see if they are worth using."
"I think George is right," began The Chief after the laugh at Albert's
expense ceased. "Perhaps you'd like to try the effect of depth of
planting on corn. Here are some boxes of earth. George, you plant six
kernels of corn one inch deep and mark the box with your name and the
depth on it, Peter, plant the next box with six kernels at two inches.
Albert, try three inches, and Jack, four inches. It will be your business,
Myron, to drop in here each half day and note the first appearance of
corn in the different boxes."
The result of this experiment, which took about two weeks in all, was
as follows:
DEPTH OF PLANTING TIME TO COME UP 1 in. 8-1/2 days 2 in. 10
" 3 in. 12 " 4 in. 13-1/2 "
This experiment showed the boys that seeds too deeply planted are
hindered in progress.
"Myron, you may take the floor now," signalled Jay.
"I have worked out and printed for you the amount of seed necessary to
plant a certain space. I have printed my table just as George did. 'H'
stands for hills and 'D' means drills."
"What is a drill?" asked Philip.
"Why a drill is a furrow. You can make a drill with a rake handle, or a
hoe. We can show you better when we get outdoors, Philip," Myron
answered quite condescendingly.
MYRON'S SEED-ESTIMATE TABLE
NAME METHOD OF PLANTING QUANTITY OF SEED HILLS OR
DRILLS Bean (Bush) D 1 qt. for 100ft. Beet D 1 oz. " 50ft. Cabbage H
1 oz. " 2000 plants Carrot D 1 oz. " 100 ft. Corn H 1 qt. " 100 hills.
Lettuce D 1 oz. " 120 ft. Musk melon H 1 oz. " 60 hills. Onion D 1 oz.

" 100 ft. Parsley D 1 oz. " 150 ft. Pea D 1 oz. " 100 ft. Pepper D 1 oz. "
2000 plants. Potato H 1 peck " 100 hills. Pumpkin H 1 oz. " 30 hills.
Radish D 1 oz. " 100 ft. Tomato H 1 oz. " 1000 plants. Turnip D 1 oz. "
150 ft.
"This table is all right, I suppose," began Philip, "but if a fellow doesn't
know quite how far apart to plant his cabbage, say, I can't see how this
table helps much."
"I took it for granted," Myron answered, "that you fellows know a little
about things. But if a person didn't know what you ask, Philip, I