476 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



communities some of the more common farm seeds are freely exchanged 

 among the farmers. 



The' first regular seed farm of those now in the country, as far as we 

 have any record, was established in connection with the nursery business 

 in Philadelphia in 1784. 



The general growth of the country, the great increase of population in 

 cities and villages and consequent establishment of market gardens, the 

 demand for choice seeds and often the inability to procure them, induced 

 market gardeners to grow and save seeds, at first for their own uses only, 

 later to supply an ever increasing demand, until some finally drifted into 

 seed production as a regular business. 



This branch of horticulture has never before been made the subject of 

 census inquiry. Therefore, with no recorded data to guide in the work, it 

 has been somewhat difficult to procure even the few facts and figures of 

 the tables herewith submitted. 



After careful inquiry by circular letter (often many times repeated) to 

 each and every seed dealer in the United States, a record was made show- 

 ing a total of 596 farms in the United States devoted exclusively to seed 

 production. These farms occupy 169,851 acres of land, of which 96,567^ 

 acres were reported as devoted to seed production during the census year, 

 divided as follows: 1,437 acres of asparagus; 12,905 of beans; 919 of 

 beets; 1,268 of cabbage; 569 of carrots; 11 of cauliflower; one half of 

 celeriac; 71 of celery; 13 of collards; 1-| of corn salad; 15,004 of sweet 

 corn; 16,322 of field corn; 1| of cress; 10,219 of cucumbers; 39| of dan- 

 delion; 252 of eggplants; 16of endive; 105 of kale; 19 of kohl-rabi; 13| 

 of leek; 486^ of lettuce; 5,149 of musk melons; 3,978 of watermelons; 2 

 of nasturtium; 13 of okra; 3,560 of onions; 352 of onion sets; 75 of pars- 

 ley; 374 of parsnips; 7,971 of peas; 365 of pepper; 4,102 of potatoes; 105 

 of pumpkins; 662 of radishes; 25 of rhubarb; 26 of salsify; 150 of spin- 

 ach; 4,356 of tomatoes; 885 of turnips; 4,663 of squashes, and 81 of flower 

 seeds. 



Aside from these special seed farms which have been under investiga- 

 tion, there are a number of extensive dealers in seeds having test gar- 

 dens and farms, where side by side all new and old varieties are grown for 

 the purpose of comparison. On these farms are also tested all seeds 

 handled by these dealers, whose custom it is to secure their supplies by 

 importation and by contracting with farmers in various favored sections of 

 this country to grow any particular variety of seed best adapted to that 

 farmer's land or locality. Some of these are among the regular seed 

 farms here enumerated; others grow one or more varieties of seed each 

 year only as a branch of their other farming operations, and as no special 

 note of their productions was made by the regular census enumerator, and 

 the dealers in some instances have failed or refused to furnish the names 

 of these farmers, it has been impossible to get at them by special schedule, 

 which has been the medium for collecting this information. Therefore, 

 while this report shows the extent and production of the seed farms 

 proper, the total of garden seeds produced in the United States is consid- 

 erably in excess of the amount here given. One dealer reports supplying 

 farmers annually 1,000 bushels of peas and 2,000 bushels of beans for 

 planting, and then buying back all the seeds that can be grown from this 

 stock, which amounts to about 10,000 bushels each of peas and beans; and 



