1887 - Elder's Wife's Way to Save Seed, and Another Way

Herbaceous Border by Helen Allingham

These two people have differing approaches to seed gathering, and life!  
Elder's Wife seems to be a bit of a Martha Stewart.   

Both of these articles were published in Popular Gardening and Fruit Growing in 1887.  


On the Gathering and Care of Flower Seeds.

Many persons gather seeds for the season all on one day and that far along in the season. I commence with the first flower of spring, and keep it up all through the season.

I usually carry in my pocket a small ball of twine, and when I see an extra fine flower from which I would like seed, I tie a bit of twine around the stem, and when among my flowers I am on the lookout for the ripened seeds of such. These I gather and tie up in the corner
seeds. Fine seeds with coarse husks can easily be separated by sifting; and still others, like Scabiosa and Calendula, require no cleaning.

All seeds must be carefully cured before storing away, and even then should not be closely packed into bags. Choose a bag considerably larger than you think will be needed for the amount of seeds, label it plainly with the name of the flower, so there need be no guesswork as to its contents.

For seed bags take bleached muslin, tear off strips from 2 to 4 inches wide. With the narrowest hemmer on the sewing machine hem them on one edge; cut the 2 inch strips into 3 inch pieces, 3 into 4, and 4 into 6, sew these into bags, leaving the hem outside. Cut pieces of twine, such as druggists use, into 3 or 4 inch pieces, tie a knot in each end, sew one fast by the middle to each bag near the top, and you are ready for the seeds as they are cleaned.

To me seed gathering is one of the pleasures of floriculture; quite as delightful as any other part, and this is especially so to one who saves more than are needed for her own use, that she may be liberal to others.

Is there not in each one's circle of acquaintance some child, invalid or poor person who would be pleased to have a pretty flower bed if only they had some seeds?  If so, then apportion into little paper bags, writing the name of the seeds plainly on each, and send them to such. 

"A good deal of trouble" do you say?   A little pleasant recreation if one enters into the spirit of it rightly.          

 -Elder's Wife

Saving Flower Seeds.

I think that my way is simpler than the Elder's Wife's, referred to on page 153. I save all my letter envelopes. In May I get an open chip basket (one costing 5c to 10c is good enough and big enough for any one who has only a small garden) and a bunch of old envelopes, and start a-gathering, beginning with Rock Cress, Erysimum, Crown Anemones, and other early bloomers, putting the seeds of each kind into a separate envelope, on which is marked the name with pencil, and the envelopes, as they are filled, put upright in the basket and bring them in.  And every now and again, all summer, as there are seeds ready to save I gather them in the same way. And when I bring them in I remove the envelopes from the basket to a flat box—the same as I use for starting seeds in—and set the box on a dry, airy shelf secure from mice. 

After the summer's gathering I clean the seeds, return them to the envelopes whence they came, the envelopes to the boxes, and the boxes to the shelves. But I never bother to put the seeds into closed bags. As they are, they are always handy, easy to get at, and open to ventilation. So long as they are dry, hard frost in winter won't hurt even tropical seeds. In cleaning seeds I use a small sieve made out of a piece of mosquito wire netting. In order to separate such wooly-coated seeds as Anemones and Globe Amaranths rub them in dry, clean sand; this will not remove the wool from the seeds but it will render it less liable to stick in bunches.         

 — William Falconer.