24 AUGUST 1934, Page 15

* * * * Mother Plants Species of course vary

greatly in their tendency to degenera- tion. None falls back more quickly than the edible, or indeed the sweet pea. Bad seed is very bad indeed. Root crops, most of which are by nature biennials, perhaps decay less

rapidly than annuals ; but the cultivation of good seed is in some of them a much more complicated business than can be discussed within a paragraph ; and generally it may be said that the recreation each year of sugar beet seed from "mother" plants is the most diflicult of the expert's jobs. Fortunately it has been achieved with striking results, though they came very late into the field, by our expert seedsmen, especially in East Anglia. There are great seedsmen all over the world. One of the greatest was the Frenchman who founded the firm of Vilmorin. The Swedish workers at Swaloff have done wonders. We have all heard of the American " Wizard " ; but England has probably much the biggest proportion of expert seedsmen. Their names are known all round the world, wherever grass or flowers or fruit or vegetables are grown ; and this is not a little remarkable as they must ripen much of their seed abroad—for cauliflower for example some journey to Italy—or seek out one or two smaller and drier places, of which Coggeshall in Essex is perhaps the most remarkable.