752 



HORTICULTURE 



May 17, 1913 



Burnett's Seeds Are Reliable! 



Lawn Grass Seeds 

 Pot-Grown Strawberry Plants 



100,000 Ready Jane l5th 



Bulbs for Fall Planting 



AND TO FORCE FOR EXHIBITION 



Write for Illustrated Mid-summer Catalogue Just Out 



BURN 



2 Oor-tland-t St., IMe^A/^ York: 



TEL.. 2223 "CS^fVTL-A.IVO-r' 



SEED TRADE 



AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSOCIATION 



Offlcers— President, Chas. N. Page, 

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

 Harry L. Holmes, Harrlsburg, Pa.; 

 Ind vice-president, Arthur B. Clark, 

 MlUord, Conn.; secretary and treas- 

 tirer, C. B. Kendel, Cleveland, O.; a»- 

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

 O. Next convention at Cleveland, Ohio, 

 Jnne 24-26, 181S. 



A. L. Don. 



Another prominent seedsman has 

 crosssd "The Great Divide." A. L. 

 Don, late head of the firm of Weeber 

 & Don has been summoned by death. 

 Like the late Franlv T. Emerson, Mr. 

 Don has not been in the public eye 

 for several ve.irs past, and for the 

 same reason — ill health. 



Mr. Don's malady baffled the ablest 

 specialists, and he consulted many. 

 Sometimes a change of treatment 

 would result in temporary improve- 

 ment, and he always haled such im- 

 provement with satisfaction, believing 

 that at last he had found a physician 

 who had correctly diagnosed his con- 

 dition. But such gains were only 

 transitory, and he continued to slowly 

 lose strength and became more feeble. 

 Through it all his courage and grit 

 never abated one jot, and even during 

 the last two or three years when he 

 foukl walk but a few steps unassisted, 

 there were very few fair days that did 

 not find him at his office for at least 

 en hour or two. During this time his 

 two eldest sons, — bright, capable young 

 men, have been conducting the busi- 

 ness, aided by his counsel and advice. 



To them will go out the sincere sym- 

 pathy of all who knew their honored 

 father, and best wishes for their suc- 

 cess. 



Only those who knew Mr. Don in 

 his prime when he was a vigorous op- 

 timistic man of affairs, genial and 

 companionable can appreciate him at 

 his true worth. He was a man of 

 honor, of high and unyielding princi- 

 ple, and was respected by everyone 

 who knew him. He leaves to his chil- 

 dren not only a valuable business, but 

 the legacy of a sterling character, 

 which should be to them a beacon light 

 through lite, and which they will do 

 well to emulate. 



year's should neither be surprising or 

 disappointing. 



Trade Reaction. 



One might easily believe by reading 

 the trade journals that the seed trade 

 had never known such a boom as they 

 have experienced this season, but in- 

 quiry among conservative representa- 

 tive houses does not sustain the claims 

 for great and extensive growth of busi- 

 ness as indicated by certain contempo- 

 raries. As a matter of tact, we are 

 inclined to think that as a whole trade 

 has been just a little bit disappoint- 

 ing, and it is not in the least surpris- 

 ing that it is so. 



The situation for the last two years 

 has been rare and exceptional, and it 

 is not to be expected that the condi- 

 tions which made these two years so 

 prosperous can continue indefinitely. 

 Like every other line of business the 

 seed business has its ups and downs, 

 and the fact that the volume of busi- 

 ness durin!? the season just closing and 

 the profits are not quite equal to last 



Sufficient Stock on Hand. 

 Peas have not sold as freely as was 

 expected, and there will be a larger 

 carry-over than for several years past. 

 On the contrary there will be a pretty 

 thorough clean-up of beans, notably the 

 wax-podded varieties. There are two 

 or three of the green-podded varieties 

 in surplus, but before the next crop is 

 available very few of these will be left. 

 In the line of small seeds, especially 

 biennials, while the demand has been 

 good, stocks have been very much 

 larger than a year ago, and nearly all 

 of the seedsmen entered the season 

 much better equipped than In 1912. 

 This is particularly true of such lines 

 as beets, mangels, carrots, parsley, 

 parsnip, etc., and if there are normal 

 crops on the acreage put out in 1913. 

 the trade will certainly realize that 

 they are blessed with a year of plenty. 



California's Plight. 



During the past two or three years 

 when seed crops, both in this country 

 and Europe, were well-nigh failures, 

 California was the bright spot on the 

 map, crops from the Golden State 

 being good in yield and excellent in 

 quality. At the present writing it 

 looks very much like a reversal, as the 

 unfavorable outlook in California to 

 which attention has several times been 

 called, has not materially improved 

 during the past two or three weeks. 

 Tt is pretty generally conceded that 

 the sweet pea crop in California will 

 be a failure, and this following on top 

 of last year's failure will mean well- 



