An excellent source of seeds can be obtained from a dependable seed house, which is worthy of ones trust. However not all seeds are the same, to the eye, a seed may appear to be all right, yet it may lack vitality, or the power, to produce a hardy plant.

Lets assume you are saving seeds from chrysanthemums plants. What blossoms will you choose? If you save seeds from your own plants that you grow, you have the ability to make wise choices. Now it is not only the blossom you must consider, but the whole plant. Why? Because a weak, straggly plant may produce one fine blossom. Looking at that one blossom so really beautiful you think of the numberless equally lovely plants you are going to have from the seeds. But just as likely as not the seeds will produce plants like the parent plant.

So in seed selection the entire plant should be considered. Ask yourself the following questions when determing which plant to take the seeds from

• Does the plant have numerous extravagant blossoms?
• Is the plant strong and sturdy?
• Is it well shaped and symmetrical?

These are important considerations in seed selection.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit a seedsman's garden, you will see scattered about a plant blossom that has a string tied around it. These are blossoms chosen for their seeds. If you look at the entire plant with an observing eye you will be able to detect the characteristics which the gardener used in determining his selection.

In seed selection size is another point to keep in mind. If you are obtaining seeds from some other source, there is no way of telling anything about the plants from which this special collection of seeds came. So this requires our entire consideration process to be based on the seeds themselves. It is quite evident that there are choices, some are much larger than the others, some more plumper, too. By all means choose the fullest and largest seed. Reasoning behind this: When you break open a bean and this is very evident, too, in the peanut you see what appears to be a little plant. So it is. Under just the right conditions for development this 'little chap' grows into the bean plant you know so well.

This little plant must depend for its early growth on the nourishment stored up in the two halves of the bean seed. Beans are not full of food and goodness for you and me to eat, but for the little baby bean plant to feed upon. And so if we choose a large seed, we have chosen a greater amount of food for the plant. This little plant feeds upon this stored food until its roots are prepared to do their work. So if the seed is small and thin, this indicates that its first food supply could be insufficient, and there is a possibility the plant will not survive.

The hardiest plants come from large seeds. That is the reason why it is better and safer to choose the large seed.

Impurity is another problem in the seeds we buy. Seeds are sometimes mixed with other seeds which are so similar in appearance that it is impossible to detect the fraud. Pretty poor business, is it not? The seeds may be unpure. Bits of foreign matter mixed in with large seeds are very easy to detect. One can merely pick the seed over and make it free from containing foreign matter. But if small seed are unclean, it is very difficult to remove the foreign matter.

The third thing to look out for in seed is viability. We know from our testings that seeds which appear to be all right may not develop at all. There are reasons. Seeds may have been picked before they were ripe or mature; they may have been frozen; and they may be too old. Seeds retain their viability or germ developing power, a given number of years and are then useless. There is a viability limit in years which varies for different seeds.

You can perform seed testing to determine the germination percentage of seeds. If its a low percentage don't waste time planting this seed unless it is a small seed. Now you might ask, Why does the size of the seed make a difference? When a small seed is planted it is usually sown in drills. Most amateurs sprinkle the seed in very thickly. So a a large number of seeds are planted. If enough seeds germinate, the plants are very close together. So in this case, quantity makes up for quality.

But take the case of large seed, like corn for example. Corn is planted just so far apart and a few seeds in a place. Planting in this way, its very important how many seeds germinate.

You can use small seeds that germinate at 50%, but this is too low a percent for the large seed. Lets take for example beans. The percentage is 65. If seeds with low vitality were planted, we could not be absolutely sure of the 65% germinating. But if the seeds are lettuce go ahead with the planting.