DAIRY, SEED IMPROVEMENT, STOCK BREEDERS' MEETINGS. 261 



ADDRESS. 



L. C. HoLSTON, President Maine Seed Improvement 



Association. 



After a most variable, exasperating and disappointing sea- 

 son, we have again met to discuss ways and means of working 

 in unison with nature to produce sufficient crops to supply our 

 share of sustenance to a world continually calling for a better 

 product. 



In trying to obtain larger yields we have too often over- 

 looked the value of a crop of quality. We, as an association, 

 have now to keep in mind the demand of a public more dis- 

 criminating in its tastes than any that has gone before. We 

 farmers who cater to a retail trade find our customers are 

 calling, not so much for just potatoes as for a potato of fine 

 cooking quality; not for just peas, but for peas that are 

 tender, sweet, and luscious ; not for just sweet corn, but for 

 corn that is tender and the acme of sweetness. 



Now what demands the public make of the retail farmer 

 will soon be made of the farmer who sells in a wholesale way. 



To the writer, having been in touch with this Seed Improve- 

 ment Association since its inception, great studies have been 

 made in seed selection, as to yield, freedom from disease, and 

 trueness to type. Those of you who remember the first ex- 

 hibits will remember especially the variation shown in a single 

 example of what was then thought to be good seed stock. 

 Look at the change today. Our business is still growing and 

 the problem of obtaining and training inspectors will soon be 

 one not easily solved. 



Up to the present, only the call of the seedsmen and pro- 

 ducers has been heard; but soon, not only we, but they, will 

 have to listen to the incessant cry of the ultimate consumer. 



Quantity has been the goal sought, but quality is bound to be 

 the one attained. Let us hope they may both go together, but 

 nature seldom works that way. So do not let us forget this 

 general rule, but keep in mind always the demand of the con- 



