DAIRY AND SEED IMPRO\^MENT MEETINGS. 3/1 



think it would be well to find out in some way about what this 

 certification is worth. 



Mr. Leland: It ought to be worth somewhere about ten 

 cents per bushel and it costs about one cent. x\s I understand 

 it, in the State of New York they have a very bright young man 

 who is taking up this work ytry enthusiastically. Instead of 

 going into the matter in a hurry he is taking plenty of time and 

 doing a lot of figuring and he estimates that it costs about one 

 cent a bushel. It seems to me that we should charge not less 

 than 10 cents a bushel over the regular market price. 



^Ir. Porter: It seems to me that ten cents a bushel would 

 not hold out very much inducement to any one. I have had 

 dealers write me and say, "If you can furnish me a carload of 

 potatoes like the last one, for consumption, I will give you ten 

 cents a bushel above the market." That is not enough, in my 

 opinion, for certified stock. 



Mr. Leland : I want to say right here that I wish there 

 was not a bushel of certified seed in the State of Maine going 

 outside of the state. I wish that every bushel was going to be 

 planted on our own ground. It would be the best thing for us 

 to do. But the man who has a little better product than his 

 neighbor is shipping it out because he can get a better price. He 

 will save enough for his own use but we do not always like to 

 help our neighbor as much as we ought. If we should plant 

 every bushel of these potatoes right here in the State of Maine 

 it would not be long before we would be in the same condition 

 as they are in the seed-growing and clover-growing sections. In 

 Canada they passed a law in 1904 and again in 1906, which 

 prohibited the planting of certain grades of seed. The seed 

 must be up to a certain standard. There were a few prosecu- 

 tions and then the people planted seed which was good. But 

 I am sorry to say that in the Canadian Commissioner's report 

 last year the statement was made that the lowest grade almost 

 entirely goes to the United States. It was not very pleasing to 

 learn that the lowest grade of clover seed growing in Canada 

 comes to the United States. We have done quite a lot of work 

 with grain. We have for sale about 40 acres of certified oats 

 yielding an average of 50 bushels to the acre. We have some 

 corn which has been grown under inspection and very carefully 

 bred, and it is true to the type of variety to which it belongs. 

 W^e shall be pleased to sell this seed at a high price, and to do 

 that, we must all help. 



