SIEGE GARDENS AND CROPS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] Sia,—The writer of the very interesting article under the above heading in the Spectator of March 17th suggests that our firm, and others, should make "it our special study to provide exactly the right seeds needed for different climates and soils, labelled with the period of growth and maturity, and assorted so as to provide the different chemical con- stituents needed to maintain health." We are sure you will be glad to know that for many years past all this and much more has been done, not only for the home population, but for the benefit of our soldiers and sailors, our civil servants, and missionaries throughout the world. Not simply have the right species been chosen, but entirely new varieties of vegetables and roots have been raised, altogether superior to those in existence at the commencement of the century. Garrisons in lonely stations, like Ascension and St, Helena, are supplied by us by order of the Admiralty and Colonial Office with potatoes and vegetable seeds for planting and sowing, without which life there would be unhealthy and almost insupportable. But the Indian Government is equally alive to the need of a constant supply of suitable vegetable food, and we are each year commissioned to send t the great pole of India just those varieties of seeds which have been proved by long experience to meet the needs of a closely confined population. It is, however, in the supply of thousands of assortments of seeds for missionary stations in every part of the habitable globe that we have gained the greatest experience as to varieties suited to support life and check disease. Our system of packing after partial desicca- tion, carefully carried out, enables seeds so treated to be safely stored for several years without their germinating powers being impaired. In future, therefore, no fortress need ever be without an adequate supply of seeds for the production of wholesome crops of vegetables whenever an emergency may
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