676 



HORTICULTUEE 



May 3, 1913 



SEED TRADE 



AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSOCIATION 



Offlcerg— President, Chas. N. Page, 

 Dea Moines, la.; 1st vice-president, 

 Harry L. Holmes, Harrlsburg, Pa.; 

 Jnd vice-president, Arthur B. Clark, 

 MUford, Conn. ; secretary and treas- 

 nrer, C. B. Kendel, Cleveland, O.; as- 

 ■iBtant secretary, J. M. Ford. Ravenna, 

 O Neit convention at Cleveland, Onlo, 

 June 24-25, 1913. 



A Good Man Gone. 

 W. Atlee Burpee, commenting on the 

 severe loss the seed trade has suffered 

 in the death of Franlc T. Emerson, of 

 Waterloo, Neb., said: "He was a 

 most remarkable man in many ways. 

 Keen, farseeing. original, and abso- 

 lutely unselfish. If Emerson discov- 

 ered important tacts in seed growing 

 he did not exploit them for his own 

 advantage, but was always willing to 

 give frankly and freely for the public 

 advantage. If any man ever carried 

 out the Christ ideal in all walks of 

 life, Frank Emerson did." So said Mr. 

 Burpee. From our own personal 

 knowledge of the man, we fully en- 

 dorse these heartfelt words. Frank 

 Emerson was one of the most delight- 

 ful men it has been our privilege to 

 meet in the American seed trade. 

 Humorous, witty, keen, well posted, 

 and with the inimitable Yankee flavor 

 to everything he said and did. The 

 seed trade has many splendid men, 

 but we never had but one Frank Emer- 

 son, and we will never have another. 

 I am proud to have known him. 



George C. Watson. 



California Seed Crop Alarm. 



More or less disquieting reports are 

 coming from California. The entire 

 seed-growing district of the state Is 

 suffering for rain and it is believed 

 that unless there is an ample rainfall 

 in the immediate future seed crops on 

 the Coast this year will be very light 

 in yield and poor in quality. This 

 condition, we understand, extends as 

 far south as the Lima bean districts 

 and undoubtedly under any conditions 

 the dwarf or bush varieties will be a 

 short crop and at a considerable pre- 

 mium next fall over present contract- 

 ing prices. 



There have been many false reports 

 about conditions In California, often 

 simply the old cry of "wolf" when 

 there is no wolf, but sometime the 

 wolf will come and the majority of 

 seedsmen will be caught napping, as 

 they generally regard all ill reports 

 respecting crops as the annual Cali- 

 fornia story. Many compare it with 

 the annual failure of the peach crop 

 in Delaware and Maryland and when- 

 ever the crop is the most complete 

 failure in the spring it is usually the 

 heaviest in the fall. The present re- 

 ports about California seem to have 

 a more substantial foundation than 

 many that have gone before, and it is 

 a fact that several of the largest 

 wholesale seed houses have cautioned 

 their representatives on the road not 

 to accept orders for any large lots of 

 California-grown seeds without sub- 

 mitting same to headquarters for ap- 

 proval. During the past two or three 



years when crops in other parts of the 

 country, as well as Europe, were so 

 short as to be near the total failure 

 line, California has given us fairly 

 abundant crops which have very ma- 

 terially helped out the shortages in 

 other parts of the world. 



Biennials Here and Abroad. 

 The latest advices we have had from 

 Europe are very favorable and with 

 the large acreage of nearly all bien- 

 nials and root crops in general, if 

 there is a fair yield, there should be 

 an abundance of all of the leading 

 items required by the trade. Strenu- 

 ous efforts have been made by grow- 

 ers in this country to produce crops 

 of beets, carrots, turnips, and other 

 biennials, considerably in excess of 

 any recent years, and coupled with 

 the excellent European prospects it 

 seems as if prices would return al- 

 most to the level of four or five years 

 ago. Of course, there is "many a slip 

 'twixt the cup and the lip" and the 

 present rosy outlook may be less en- 

 couraging a few months hence. How- 

 ever, we must be grateful that we 

 have a good start and trust in Provi- 

 dence to bring the crops through suc- 

 cessfully. 



Pea Prospects. 



While there has been a superabund- 

 ance of rain in some sections of the 

 country, it has been quite insufficient 

 in others. The weather has also been 

 rather cold up until the present week, 

 but now that summer is with us agri- 

 cultural work will progress rapidly. 

 Peas have been planted for seed pur- 

 poses in many sections of Michigan. 

 Wisconsin, and in the far Northwest 

 and conditions are generally most fa- 

 vorable. Should there be a full aver- 

 age crop from the acreage planted, 

 there will certainly be peas enough to 

 meet all requirements of both the 

 seedsmen and canners, a considerable 

 number of whom are firm believers in 

 lower prices after harvest than grow- 

 ers are willing to quote at the present 

 time. For this reason many are or- 

 dering very lightly for their future re- 

 quirements, while not a few are not 

 ordering at all. It is very much of a 

 gamble and an even bet either way. 

 Both seedsmen and canners have 

 taken this view of conditions before 

 and been badly left, and it is not at 

 all impossible for them to have the 

 same experience the coming season. 

 They argue that prices are now so 

 very high that even with a short crop 

 they are not likely to run very much 

 higher, while if there is a large crop, 

 values will certainly be below present 

 contracting figures. What has been 

 said about peas will apply with equal 

 force to many other lines of seeds, 

 and the wise man is he who gives his 

 opinion next autumn. 



Retailers Busy. 



It is needless to say that retailers 

 in all parts of the country are pushed 

 to the limit of capacity in keeping ujJ 

 with their business. Counter trade is 

 so brisk that the entire force of most 

 establishments is required to wait on 

 customers, and orders have to be put 

 up nights and Sundays. It is becom- 

 ing increasingly difficult to secure ex- 

 perienced and competent help in the 



retail seed business, as the greater 

 part of the year's business is trans- 

 acted during a period of about four 

 months. The balance of the time trade 

 is more or less slow and dealers can 

 very well get along with half the num- 

 ber of hands required during the 

 spring rush. This is an old story, and 

 old complaint, however, and it is 

 doubtful if any solution can be found. 



Duty on Seeds. 



It is hoped that the efforts that have 

 been made to continue seeds under a 

 specific, instead of an ad valorum, 

 duty in the new tariff bill now before 

 Congress will be successful. There is 

 not a single logical argument in favor 

 of returning to the ad valorum duties. 

 They were a source of continual con- 

 troversy between the appraisers and 

 the seedsmen, and if our democratic 

 friends think that the seedsmen are 

 paying too high a duty they can re- 

 duce the specific duties to the point 

 they consider proper. 



A Boston Seedsman Honored. 



Governor Foss has appointtd Luther 

 Adams Breok as a delegate from Mas- 

 sachusetts to the Southern Commer- 

 cial Congress during its forthcoming 

 session at the International Institute 

 of Agriculture in Rome, Italy. 



Mr. Breck is a Harvard man and of 

 the fourth generation of the name in 

 the old seed house of Joseph Breck & 

 Sons, Boston. At present he. with his 

 family, are in the South of France 

 having reached there in the course of 

 a somewhat extended tour of Infor- 

 mation through Europe and the 

 British Isles in the interest of horti- 

 culture and agriculture. Mr. Breck 

 will join the commission, which sailed 

 Saturday on the Saxonia from New 

 York, at Rome. His associates from 

 Massachusetts are J. Lewis Ellsworth 

 of Worcester, formerly secretary of 

 the Massachusetts Board of Agricul- 

 ture, and Mrs. Charlotte B. Ware of 

 Norwell, who represents the Federal 

 Government. 



The session of the International In- 

 stitute of Agriculture continuing sev- 

 eral days includes a reception ten- 

 dered to the American Commission by 

 the King and Queen of Italy and 

 which will be attended by their 

 Majesties. 



At the close of the session the com- 

 mission will resume its itinerary which 

 includes Italy, Hungary, Austria. Ger- 

 many, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Bel- 

 gium, France, England and Ireland, 

 extending over about 70 days. 



Notes. 

 Herbert Reich ardt. of the firm of 

 Reichardt & Schulte, seedsmen of 

 Houston, Texas, was recently married 

 to Miss Margarite Dennis. 



Harry B. McCuIIough, of Cincinnati, 

 has gone to the Pacific Coast for his 

 health. He expects to rough it in the 

 open until he Is well and strong again. 



Mr. and Mrs. W. Atlee Burpee left 

 Philadelphia on the 25th inst. for In- 

 diana to visit their boys who are at 

 college in that State. We look for big 

 things from David by and by, if we 

 may judge from the course of inter- 

 national studies he is pursuing. 



