854 



HORTICULTURi: 



June 29, 3907 



Welcome Elks and Florists 



Don't fail to visit tite 

 Fraternal Heailquar' 

 tors in Philatlelphia 



E cordially invite the Florists who will visit Philadelphia 

 next month to attend the Convention of the Benevolent 

 Protective Order of Elks, to make our building their 

 headquarters while they are in this city. 



We are centrally located, a little over one block from the Lodge. 



We shall be decorated in your honor. Come to us. Bring your 



family to us, meet your friends here. Have your mail sent here. 



We want you to feel at home in the city of Brotherly Love. 



H. BAYERSDORFER & CO., 1129 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Capitol with regard to the free seeds. 

 Very soon this became a live issue 

 throughout the country. The seeds- 

 men had a hearing before the Agri- 

 cultural Committee of the Senate, 

 May 11. 1906, and also before the 

 Agricultural Committee of the House, 

 December 12th and 13th, 1906. Those 

 of you who have not copies of the 

 reports of these hearings would do 

 well to get your Congressmen to send 

 them to you. You will find them very 

 interesting reading. They are cer- 

 tainly unique and Wm. Wolft Smith 

 and all connected with them deserve 

 the thanks of the American Seed 

 Trade Association for the manner In 

 which they presented their case. 



When the matter was finally fought 

 out on the fioor of the House, our 

 representatives, by a majority of 136 

 to 84 voted for a continuance of the 

 old plan. Never was there a more 

 striking instance of the inability of 

 the House to overcome its prejudices 

 and give up a cherished custom, — 

 that of handing out annually to their 

 constituents a paltry political package 

 of five papers of common garden 

 seeds, which, according to Dr. Gal- 

 loway, cost the Government one-halt 

 a cent apiece and which could cer- 

 tainly be procured without difficulty 

 at any crossroad store. 



We are told the farmers demand 

 them, that Congress has done very 

 little for the farmer, anyway, and that 

 the least we can do is to allow our 

 members of Congress to hand out to 

 their farmer friends, once a year, with 

 their compliments, this miserable lit- 

 tle package of garden seeds of varie- 

 ties that have been before the public 

 for ten, twenty, thirty and forty years 

 and which are not worth the cost of 

 transmitting them through the mails. 



It Congress must do this, let them 

 send the farmers something that will 

 tend to educate them. Let them send 

 new and rare varieties that will fill 

 up a blank in the existing list, but 

 don't let them send out these com- 

 mon varieties which cost them next 

 to nothing and which cannot accom- 

 plish any useful purpose whatever. 



Looking at It from the standpoint 

 of the American Seed Trade, is there 

 any excuse for the existence of the 

 Congressional Free Seed Distribution 

 today, or has there been any for the 

 past forty years? Has the American 



Seed Trade been so behindhand in 

 its methods and so inattentive to 

 business, as to need the fostering 

 hand of the Government to help it to 

 place what is even new, rare and 

 valuable, before the farmers and gar- 

 deners of the country? I think not! 

 On the contrary, as a trade, as a 

 body of men, they have shown 

 marked ability, a strong desire to 

 keep abreast of the times, to find new, 

 rare and valuable plants, seeds and 

 bulbs wherever they were to be found, 

 the world over, and have endeavored 

 to adopt the most up-to-date and ap- 

 proved methods that could be found 

 Indeed, it would be hard to find a 

 body of men in any walk of life, that 

 has displayed more resource, intelli- 

 gence, activity, and sound business 

 management than this very trade 

 which Congress is competing with, un- 

 der the guise of helping the farmer. 



Looking at it from the farmers' 

 standpoint, is there any excuse for 

 the distribution of common varieties 

 of garden seeds? What good is it 

 doing the farmer? It has been clearly 

 shown by the largest body of farmers 

 known, the National Grange, with its 

 800,000 members, that Uiey would 

 rather have new, rare and desirable 

 varieties that will suit their section 

 and their soil, than the common kinds 

 that have been sent out. 



It is also shown by the Agricultural 

 Press that they do not want this 

 waste of public funds to continue. To 

 show this, I will read the following: 



Naticnal Agricultural Press Ler.gue, 

 Office of Secretary. 

 Chicago, 111., Decerabir 6, 1906. 

 NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL TRESS 

 LEAGUE ON THE FREE DISTRI- 

 BUTION OF SEEDS. 



.A.t the annual session in Clucago, 

 December 5, 1906, the National .Agricul- 

 tural Press League adopted by a unani- 

 mous vote the following resolutions: 



Whereas, Notwithstanding the protests 

 ot the farmers of the country, irrespective 

 of locality or political afflliations. Con- 

 gress at its last session again determined 

 to continiie the doubtful policy of distrib- 

 uling seeds of common and well known 

 varieties: and 



Whereas, The National Grange, the Far- 

 mers' National Congress, and hundreds of 

 State and local agricultural and horticul- 

 tural societies h.-we adopted resolutions de- 

 nouncing this practice and calling on Con- 

 giess to turn the money over to the De- 

 partment of .Agriculture for work with 

 the State experiment stations in the devel- 

 oping new varieties of seeds and plants 

 suitable to the localities; and 



Whereas, We believe that a vast major- 



ity of the farmers of this country are 

 opposed to the e.xisting policy; therefore, 

 be it 



Resolved, 'iTiat the National Agricultu- 

 ral Press League hereby reaffirms its op- 

 position to the Congressional fri e seed dis- 

 tribution as at present conducted. 



Resolved Further, That copies of this 

 resolution be sent to all members of this 

 league and to the members of the Com- 

 mittee on Agriculture of the United 

 States Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives. 



The members of the National Agricul- 

 tural Press League are: Southern Rura- 

 list, Atlanta, Ga.; Farmer's Call, Quincy. 

 111. ; Farm Home, Springfield, 111. ; Prairie 

 Farmer, Chicago. 111.; Live Stock World, 

 Chicago, III.; Farmer's Guide. Hunting- 

 ton, Ind. ; American Farmer, Indianapolis, 

 Ind.; Up-to-Date Farming, Indianapolis, 

 Ind.; Homestead, Des Moines, Iowa; Kan- 

 sas Farmer, Topeka, Kans. ; Missouri Val- 

 ley Farmer, Topeka, Kans.; Farm Poul- 

 try-. P.oston. Mass.: B'arm and Home. Spring- 

 field. Mass.; Michigan Farmer, Detroit, 

 Mich.; Rural Magazine, Detroit, Mich.; 

 Farm, Stock and Home. Minneapolis, 

 Minn.; Farmer and Stockman, Kansas 

 City, Mo.; Drovers' Telegram. Kansas 

 City, Mo.; Fruit Grower, St. Joseph, Mo.; 

 Colman's Rural World. St. Louis, Mo.; 

 National Farmer and Stock Grower, St. 

 Louis, Mo.; Northwestern Stockniiin and 

 Farmer, Helena, Mont.; Metropolitan and 

 Rural Home, New York, N. Y. : Ohio Far- 

 mer, Cleveland, Ohio; Gleaninirs in Bee 

 Culture, Medina, Ohio; Farm and Fireside. 

 Springfield, Ohio; Farm News, Springfield, 

 Ohio; Pacific Northwest, Poilland, Orcg.; 

 Farm Journal, Philadelphia. Pa. ; National 

 Stockman and Farmer, Pittsburg, Pa. ; 

 Parks Flor.a! Magazine. La Park. Pa.; 

 Southwestern Fanner and Breeder, North 

 Fort Worth. Tc.^.: Farm and Ranch, Dal- 

 las. Tex.; New England Farmer, Brattle- 

 boro, Vt. ; Hoards' Dairyman. Fort Atkin- 

 son. Wis.; Wisconsin Farmer. Madison, 

 Wis. Very respectfully yours, 



JAMES M. PIERCE. President. 

 JOHN M. ST.AHL. Secretary. 

 To />c' continued. 



MOVEMENTS OF GARDENERS. 



Ernest ,L Brown, late superintendent 

 (o Geo. P. Tangeman, Glen Cove, has 

 accepted a position as superintendent 

 to Gustav H. Schwab, Scarborough, 

 N. Y. 



Nicholas Christian, gardener at the 

 Prescott Bigelow estate, Manchester, 

 Mass., will succeed MacKewan as gar- 

 dener at the W. D. Denegre estate. 

 West Manchester, Mass.. July first. 



Alex. Burr, gardener to Mr. Salton- 

 stall for the last four years, has been 

 appointed by Olmsted Brothers, Brook- 

 line, head gardener to Mr. W. A. 

 Rogers, Kenuebunkport, Maine. Mr. 

 Burr is a member of the Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club of Boston. 



