I have never counted/measured seeds I've received, lol. Who are theses people who have the time to measure stuff out to the exact amount? This reminds me of a few years back, the "chaff police" were out in full force. There were traders who expected seeds clean like they bought them. There might be a few of them still floating around, but the chaff hysteria has subsided. I've always taken the 25 count as a general rule for common average size seeds. Like say Zinnias or Cosmos, they produce seed in abundance and the seeds are easily countable, but not too big. I don't need tons of seeds. I only have so much room and I like to try new things. So I would rather get less of more varieties. Tomatoes and Peppers- I usually do about 15 unless the trader wants more. Sometimes I have a lesser quantity, like 6 seeds, that I will offer for someone who wants a special variety. Morning Glories- at least 6. Some are very stingy and I expect no more than 6. Other plants that make really big seeds or not a lot of seeds like Daylilies or Peonies- I try to give at least 6. Commercial seed, I usually don't give a lot, and I don't expect a lot. Only so much come in a pkt. Difficult to harvest seed- (Try harvesting seeds from Veronica Gentianoides, and you'll know what I mean, lol.) I try to stay in the 15 seed range, but it varies. Exceptionally rare seed- I'll give what I got and take what ever I can, lol. As I said on another thread, I found 3 seeds from my Salvia Black and Blue. This is an exceptionally rare occurrence to get any seed from that plant. Tiny Seed- I don't measure. If I look in the baggie and see what seems to be a decent amount to start that plant, I'm ok with sending it. Just because it is tiny, doesn't mean they all won't germinate and become large plants. As you said Sue, 1/4 tsp. would be a heck of a lot for those really tiny seed. !/4 tsp. might be all I collected of those kinds of plants. If I'm sending seeds to a newbie and I have decent amount saved of a more common abundant seed producing plants, I'll send extra when I can. Humm... I think that's all, lol. Remy

To recapitulate what I was writing: I thank you all for your comments, all of which reflect much thought and feeling; Rick, I particularly appreciate the warmth of what you wrote and your information about legal protections of intellectual property; Cynthia, thanks for the observations on books and preservation of the written word, an interesting topic; catsrose, thanks for a realistic survey of the obstacles involved; and, really, THANKS to you all for the encouragement, literary quotes (Odinthor), book mentions, factual information, discussions about the value of illustrations in books, and everything else that you all have put in your answers. Concerning myself and my book project, I came up a few days ago with a provisional answer to the question I asked in the title of this thread. There's nothing in the way of my starting to write--unless it's my own fear or sloth. I don't know whether I have the discipline it takes to write a book; I don't know whether I'm a good enough writer to write a good book. I do have one quality needed to tackle this task, and that's a healthily stubborn faith in my own ideas about gardening and writing. Many of you make the point that such a book as I'm talking about needs to come from passion, and you're absolutely right. I already have a lot of practice working long and hard on a task for purely personal satisfaction, as opposed to applause or money: it's called my garden. Should I write a book, then if some people like it, and if I even make a bit of money from it, that will be great. But that's not why I'm thinking about such a project, and these considerations wouldn't be enough to make me undertake it. So, all I need to do now is sit down at the computer and begin writing..... Melissa

IF you don't use it I would totally disable the features for it in your windows live. I don't use the IM features or any of that stuff in my hotmail so it is all disabled and I do not take any requests period.

You submit a request through their FAQs. They did respond when I was having trouble with my account, but I sent one a week ago because I stopped getting emails for likes and comments on my threads. They never responded. I don't think Houzz is as interested in devoting resources to the GW forum when there's so much else on this website than little old us.