SEED-SAVING

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 93, 13 January 1939, Page 16

SEED-SAVING

How To iDo It Obviously it is not practical or advisable to save one's own seed in the general way, for no gardener has the facilities tor harvesting nor the means of ensuring perfection in the gathering of seeds as has the professional seedsman.

But, of course, there are occasions when, tor special reasons, the amateur likes to do a little home seed-saving. In your cornflowers, for example, there may be a blue which is bluer than the rest One of your scarlet an-tirrhinums-may present a brilliance far more luminous than that of any around it. Some Californian poppy may be more free-flowering, and innocent of the straggling habit which is the one weakness of this otherwise delightful hardy annual. So we might go on pointing out the conspicuously good features that warrant seed-saving.

Should you have a plant of this type, cover it with a piece of muslin held up with sticks, ’to keep away crosspollinating insects. Gather the seeds on a fine, sunny day, when the plants are quite dry and when the seed, vessels are on the point of bursting. , Do not pull off only the pods of vessels. Take with them as much as possible of the old flower stem. There is a definite purpose behind this.

The stored moisture in the stems will pass down to the seeds after harvesting and will plump them up very considerably. To finish the ripening of the seed, lay the stems, with seed cases attached, thinly in shallow seed trays lined with paper. Stand them in a sunny window or greenhouse for three or four weeks at least. Then tip the contents on to a sheet of paper and winnow out the larger chaffy bits by fanning with a piece of cardboard or gently blowing. . For such small seeds as would pass through the sieve, use a board covered with a strip of somewhat-hairy or rough cloth.

Tip the seeds on to one end of the board, slightly raise the board, and then tap it gently. The seeds will roll down, but the chaffy debris will be trapped on the cloth.

Put the seeds UP in packets at once, making sure that the envelopes used are dry. Then indicate the name and variety, and date of harvesting, and store away in a dry yet airy drawer or cupboard.

Toward the end of the time, should the foliage be showing rot or moulds, because of being harvested while moist, throw it away after detaching the seed-vessels, otherwise the latter are likely to be attacked by damp-fungus. The seeds, too, must be perfectly clean and dry for storing in envelopes ■through the winter, after they have been rubbed out of the pods or eases. Dust and chaffy matter should not be packed away with them, for this encourages mould. The best way to clean fairly large seeds is to use a flour sieve. Put the seeds in, shake to and fro, and the finer dust will pass through.

“.My first trip to England was made in 1905, as doctor on board the steamer Banffshire, and the trip from Port Chalmers to London Look 93 days; last year I flew, and was only 12J days getting from Auckland to Southampton,” said Mr. W. A. Fairclough, an Auckland surgeon who returned to Auckland by the Niagara this week after visiting England and the Continent. Mr. Fairclough said there was no night flying on the Empire route, and passengers had a good opportunity of seeing the calling-places.