442 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



With all our cultivated plants, the lino of most profitable production is 

 somewhere within the native region of the plants. These native regions 

 have their limits, outside of which the plants cannot be cultivated with 

 profit. The beet sugar industry of France and Germany offers a good illus- 

 tration. There is a line north of which the industry cannot be carried on, 

 because the per cent of sugar becomes too low to pay the cost of extraction. 



Whenever it becomes necessary for a farmer to procure seed from abroad, 

 it is of great importance that he should know under what climatic conditions 

 the seed was grown ; he ought also to know the character of the soil. Then 

 he can avoid the costly error of getting something entirely unsuited to the 

 demands of his particular locality. 



SEED DEALERS. 



Here lies the difficulty in obtaining seed from seedsmen. The varieties 

 they offer are highly praised, and the farmer is tempted by the examples of 

 wonderful productiveness which they give. We have no reason to doubt the 

 correctness of these examples, but we may fairly doubt the possibility of 

 obtaining the same results under a different climate and on different soils. 

 If the seedsman can furnish the details of soil and climate under which the 

 seed was grown, so that you can compare it with your own, you can then 

 judge of its value to you. If he cannot do this it is not safe to use his seed. 

 Some seedsmen give the matter of climate due attention, others do not. 

 One catalogue contains a tempting description of a variety of corn, the seed 

 of which all comes from northern Vermont, and it is recommended for all 

 parts of the United States. 



For the farmers of southern Michigan the means of seed improvement do 

 not lie in the direction of changing, but rather in the line of selecting and 

 breeding your seeds on your own farms, after the methods I have attempted 

 to outline. As to the particular varieties upon which to begin a systematic 

 improvement, each farmer should be guided by his experience of what is 

 best suited to his particular climate, his soil and his special purposes. Let 

 him establish in his mind an ideal, and starting with the best he can pro- 

 cure, work toward it. A definite purpose, kept constantly in view, is the 

 best incentive one can have. It will render efficient aid in the breeding of 

 seed as in any other work. 



FASHION" IN VARIETIES. 



Fashion, at times, rules on the the farm, as it does in the dressmaking 

 establishment. It is not a good guide to the selection of varieties, and to 

 follow it is often costly. Mr. A. obtains a new variety of wheat, which, on 

 first sowing, does well ;• next year Mr. B. must have some. In three years 

 everybody in the neighborhood has tried it. In five years more no one grows 

 it. Under certain conditions on certain soils it may have done well ; under 

 other conditions on other soils it failed, and those who tried it were the 

 losers. 



New varieties are without number, and they incline us to neglect old ones. 

 Substituting the new for the old is not advancement. We advance when 

 we can keep the old varieties in all their purity and vigor, and then origi- 

 nate new ones as good or better. Every farmer should take pride in not 



