536 



HORTICULTURE 



Seed Trade 



AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSO- 

 CIATION. 



WaUoc S. Woodrutf, Orange, Conn., 

 Pre*.; J. C. Robinson, Waterloo, Neb., 

 rirat VlcePres.; C. E. Kendel, Cleveland, 

 O., Sec'y and Treas. Twenty-seventh an- 

 naal convention June 22-24, 1909, at Clifton 

 HouBe, Niagara Falls, Ont. 



WHOLESALE SEEDSMEN'S 



LEAGUE. 



T. W. Bruggerhof, Pres.; Burnet Land- 

 mUl, Sec'7. 



THE FREE SEED DISTR1BUT101M. 



In Seed Trade Notes of March 27Ui, 

 it was stated that the free seed dis- 

 tribution tor 1909-10 was to be in- 

 creased from 36,000,000 to 60,000,000 

 packets. An error was made in the 

 number of packets in the 190S distribu- 

 tion, as the actual numher was slightly 

 under 29,000,000. This of course, is not 

 important excepting for purposes of 

 comparison. Just what bearing this 

 immense number of packets or rather 

 weight, will have on the annua! deficit 

 of the Post Office Department may be 

 surmised by the statement that if paid 

 for at regular rates it would mean a 

 difference of approximately $2.[i0,000, 

 but this does not cover the entire cost 

 and exact figures cannot be given. 



It may or may not be generally 

 known that after the regular bids for 

 the 1909-'10 distribution were disposed 

 of and contracts awarded, a supple- 

 mentary contract in the shape of a 

 lump sum approximately $60,000 was 

 awarded to one of the California grow- 

 ers. Many of the items included in 

 this contract are not produced in Cali- 

 fornia, and the successful bidder will 

 have to procure them from other grow- 

 ers in this country and Europe. Only 

 a limited number were asked to bid on 

 this contract, and the winner is said 

 to have made an extraordinarily low 

 bid, many thousands of dollars below 

 the next lowest bidder. Those who are 

 acquainted with all of the facts think 

 the successful bidder will have some 

 difficulty in masticating the mouthful 

 he has bitten off. But more of this 

 anon. 



must pay duty on the advance and 

 possibly he penalized in addition, but 

 no allowance is ever made for a de- 

 cline below the purchase price. Pay- 

 ing duty on the market value is all 

 well enough, but it should be the 

 market price at time of entry whether 

 higher or lower than the purchase 

 piice. Under the present system of 

 levying duties no importer can tell 

 what his goods are going to cost, and 

 as most wholesale seedsmen sell the 

 larger part of their imports in advance 

 of the receipt of the goods, they are 

 compelled to base their selling price on 

 the purchase price, and any advance 

 above the latter means more paid in 

 duties which means a reduction in 

 profit, sometimes to the vanishing 

 point. This is why the specific duty 

 is desired, as the dealer can always 

 know what his goods are going to cost 

 him, and there is no good reason why 

 the taiiff on seeds cannot be so framed. 

 To illustrate how this works out in 

 actual practice, one of the heaviest im- 

 porters purchased abroad 50,000 lbs. of 

 turnip seed to cost laid down about 

 ]2c. On this basis the firm sold 10,000 

 lbs. at an advance of oc. per lb. Now, 

 supposing they had been compelled to 

 pay duty on a valuation of 15c. or 20c. 

 per lb., what would have become of 

 their profit? If a specific duty of 4c. 

 per lb. were levied on the seed they 

 would know exactly what it was going 

 to cost, and all anxiety and uncertain- 

 ty would be removed. Such a duty 

 would be slightly in excess of the pres- 

 ent 30 per cent, ad valorem, and over 

 a period of years would be perfectly 

 just to the government. The fact that 

 the man who buys his goods on the 

 market after harvest has to pay more 

 is no sound argument against this 

 proposition. 



AD VALOREM VERSUS SPECIFIC 

 DUTIES. 



The efforts of the seedsmen to get a 

 specific duty on seeds, seems in a fair 

 way to be realized despite the attempts 

 of an assistant appraiser to prevent it. 

 This official, who is a thorough seeds- 

 man and, up to two years ago when 

 he received his appointment, identified 

 with the trade, not content with re- 

 maining neutral, has seen fit to butt 

 into this tariff matter and proffer ad- 

 vice to the Ways and Means Commit- 

 tee of the House in opposition to the 

 aims of the seedsmen. He is a very 

 valiant defender of the government, 

 and seems to fear that poor old simple 

 Uncle Sam will become the victim of 

 the designing seed dealer. 



The fact that the tariff is so framed 

 that the government cannot get the 

 worst of it unless by deliberate fraud, 

 seems to have escaped the notice of 

 our zealous friend. If the market val- 

 ue of the goods a dealer imports ad- 

 vances after his purchase is made, he 



IMPORTANT ACTION BY THE 

 WHOLESALE SEEDSMEN'S 

 LEAGUE. 

 Bristol, Pennsylvania, April 3, 1909. 

 At a meeting of the Board of Direc- 

 tors of the Wholesale Seedsmen's 

 League in New York City, April 1st, 

 the following motions were offered 

 and passed, and on the next day 

 mailed to the President of the United 

 States and the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture. 



BURNET LANDRETH, 

 Secretary Wholesale Seedsmen's 

 League. 



Resolved, That the Board of Directors of 

 the Wliolesalo Seedsmen's League deplore 

 the rnnstantlv increasing tendency to swell 

 the amount expended by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture for the purpose 

 of purchase and distribution of common 

 varieties of garden seeds. 



The Board respectfully smr-jc^ts to the 

 President of the United St,Tt.~ ■■: ! '' ' s.-.-- 

 i-etary of Agriculture that ;. , . , - i. , ile 

 saving or rotrenohment in th. ■ xi" . -- - ■■( 

 the Government could be made U.v the 

 nbolishment of such appropriation without 

 in any way impairing the effectiveness of 

 the Department of Agriciilture: and that a 

 further considerable saving to the Govern- 

 ment could be effected by relieving the 

 Post Office Department of the expenses in- 

 curred in the carrying and distribution of 

 the enormous qnantity of franked seeds 

 sent out by the Department of Agriculture. 



The Board is of fhe opinion that the 

 free distribution of common varieties of 

 garden seeds and field seeds is of no prac- 

 tical value to the farmers and gardeners of 

 this country, but, to the contrary. Is a 

 ilowTiright injustice and restraint of trade 

 inflicted upon the seed business. 



The Board believes that a continuance of 

 this practice certainly does not tend 

 towards the best development of the na- 



April 10, 1909 



IWIICHELL'S 



PRIMULA OBGONIGA 



SEED 



ir. fkt. 



Grandlflora Compacta «iO 50 



•' Fiml)riata(i-i6oz.$i.25) .50 



'* iiigantea (.Arendsi) .50 



" Kermesloa (i-'6oz.$i.5i.) .40 



'• Rosea (i-i6 oz. $1 oo) .30 



" 'White (i-i6oz. $1.25) ..SO 



Mixed (1-8 oz. $1.00) .30 



PRIMULA CHiNEN- 

 SiS riMBRIATA 



MICHELL'S PRIZE MIXTURE 



Beautifully fringed varieties. Ti. pkt. Sil 00, 



S3. 00 per 1-16 oz. 



Write tor our Wliolesale Catalog 



HENRY F. MIGHELL CO. 



1018 Market St., PHILA. 



tion, as it encoiirages a dependence upon 

 the Govercmer.t, which is entirely foreign 

 to the feeli.igs and patriotism of the Amer- 

 ican people. 



Resolved. That while the Wholesale 

 Soedsuien's League as an organization, and 

 its meraliers individually, raise no objec- 

 tion whatever to the fan- testing of seeds 

 of grasses, clovers, and other farm seeds, 

 for the purpose of deteriniiiiug if they are 

 adulterated or misbranded, the Association 

 and its members do object to the methods 

 of the agents of the Department of Agri- 

 culture of the United States in obtaining 

 such samples for test, as being unfair to 

 the seed merchants and growers, in that 

 the merchants and growers have no knowl- 

 edge that the samples so reported upon 

 actually came from them. 



It seeius to the Seedsmen's League but 

 fair that the agent obtaining the samples 

 should leave the merchant or grower a por- 

 tion of that identical sample under Govern- 

 mental seal, as provided in the case of 

 testing milk, fertilizers, etc., under the 

 laws of the State of New Tork and other 

 States. 



NOTES. 



Hallowell, Me. — Manager .Jerrow, of 

 the Elm Brook Farm, has opened a 

 seed store. 



Counter trade is still unsatisfactory 

 owing almost entirely to cold, back- 

 ward weather. Fears are expressed 

 that if the weather does not soon turn 

 warm it will be too late to recover 

 lost ground. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Gurrey Seed Co. Yankton, S. D.— 

 "Seeds that Grow and Satisfy," for 

 Spring, 1909. Strongly agricultural. 

 Covers in colors. 



Yankton Nursery, Yankton, S. D. — 

 42nd Annual Catalog, Spring, 1909. 

 Covers adorned with colored plates of 

 Viburnum lantana and Compass Cher- 



A. E. McKenzie Co., Ltd., Brandon, 

 Man. — 13th Annual Catalogue of "Gold 

 Standard Seeds." Vegetable, Flower 

 and Agricultural List with handsome 

 covers in colors and gold. 



INCORPORATED. 

 Tampa, Fla.— The Reliable Seed Co. 



Hartford, Conn. — Northeastern For- 

 estry Co.; capital, $10,000. 



