08 



HORTICULTURE 



October 30, 1909 



Seed Trade 



Wholesale Seedsmen's League. 



The Wholesale Seedsmen's League 

 held their first meeting of the season 

 at the rooms ot the Hardware Club in 

 New York City on the 20th inst. While 

 no definite infoimation has been given 

 out, it is generally understood that 

 there was a sharp marking up of 

 prices on practically all varieties of 

 ps^s, the advances ranging in some In- 

 stances up to $1.50 per bushel over last 

 year's figures. The beau prices were 

 not greatly changed and the same may 

 be said of the general line of small 

 seeds, such changes as were made 

 showing a slight reduction from last 

 year's prices. It is learned that cer- 

 tain varieties of cabbage seed of which 

 the foreign-grown varieties are gener- 

 ally used, have been marked up; among 

 these being the Danish Ball Head and 

 the Winningstadl. There has been 

 some advance in the prices of radish 

 seed, particularly the French-grown 

 stock. But, as stated, exact figure* 

 are not obtainable at this time and 

 piobably will not be until the prices 

 agreed on at the meeting have been 

 printed and issued to members of the 

 league. These prices as a whole, bear 

 out fully the estimates which have 

 been given in HORTICULTURE from 

 time to time as to general crop condi- 

 tions and prove the value of HORTI- 

 CULTURE'S crop news. Several promi- 

 nent seedsmen have remarked on this 

 fact and many are realizing the value 

 of the crop forecasts given in these 

 columns. 



"Farmers' Alaskas." 

 Certain unscrupulous persons are al- 

 ready peddling the so-called "Farmers' 

 Alaskas," grown by Wisconsin farm- 

 ers, and in years of plentiful crops 

 sold at the price of Scotch Blues, and 

 often as Scotch Blues, but in seasons 

 of scarcity like this they are trotted 

 out and made to do duty as Alaskas. 

 They may have been Alaskas once, 

 but that type is lost now, and they 

 will grow a vine six to seven feet in 

 length, heavy as a Telephone vine, 

 setting two to three sets of pods ma- 

 turing over a period of three to four 

 weeks. As these peas are grown in 

 close proximity to Scotch Blues, and 

 little effort is made to keep the two 

 distinct, it can easily be surmised that 

 they become mixed, and are gradually 

 losing their separate identity. Can- 

 ners are the chief victims of the un- 

 principled dealers as they will snap at 

 the bait of low price, and in the end 

 their loss is many times the difference 

 in the price of the seed. Such per- 

 sons have been stung repeatedly, but 

 are as often caught with the same bait. 

 Of course they deserve no sjTnpathy, 

 but it is a pity the Innocent victims, 

 of which there are a few, do not seek 

 redress in the courts. It is confidently 

 contended that the disclaimer would 

 not prote<?t the sellers. It ought to be 

 tried out, and if a dealer selling such 

 junk were mulcted in heavy damages 

 he would have to bear his troubles 

 alone and could claim no sympathy. 

 As a protection, cauners and seedsmen 

 should insist on knowing the pedigree 

 of any pea seed offered and have it 



put in writing. If this were done, lit- 

 tle of such trash would be sold. It is 

 an open question whether it should be 

 classified as Alaska or sold under that 

 name. 



Vine Seeds Short. 



Water melon seed is a scarce article 

 in the west, but fairly plentiful in the 

 south, and our western friends are 

 supplying their deficiencies from that 

 section, which nearly evens up mat- 

 ters. It might here be mentioned that 

 nearly all vine seeds are short in sup- 

 ply, and particularly musk melons. 

 Squashes are on the short side of 

 course, but with referejice to most 

 vine seeds, the real situation is not 

 yet known. The same may be said of 

 beans and corn — at least as far as the 

 general trade is concerned. 



Among the very short items may be 

 mentioned pumpkin seed. It looks as 

 if Connecticut Field would be worth 

 aOc. per lb. the coming season, while 

 the more fancy varieties will double in 

 price. This scarcity of pumpkins will 

 be a hard blow to the lovers of that 

 delicious desert, but think of the woe 

 in the "pie belt!" Pie is nearly the 

 "staff of life" in the pie belt, and 

 what with the high price of beans, the 

 denizens of the "belt" discovered by 

 Kipling are bound to have their 

 troubles. There may be wars and ru- 

 morc of wars, and stocks may rise and 

 stocks may fall, but what are such 

 trifles compared with a scarcity of 

 beans and pie? Well may the tremb- 

 ling Bostonian exclaim, paraphrasing 

 the immortal words of Patrick Henry: 

 "Give me beans and pie, or give me 

 death!" 



Notes. 



The Gurney Seed Company of Yank- 

 ton, So. Dak., are erecting a new store 

 house of brick. 



The A. E. McKenzie Co., Brandon, 

 Man., lost a large seed warehouse and 

 contents by fire on Oct. 11. 



R. W. Laughlin, senior member of 

 the Laughlin Seed Co., of Canton, O., 

 is spending a few days among the 

 union growers at Canastota, N. Y. 



The Ozark Seed Co. of Springfield, 

 Mo., have elected .Tohn R. Barrett pres- 

 ident, R. R. Ricketts vice-president 

 and A. S. C. Sanders secretary of the 

 corporation. 



R. & J. Farquhar & Co. have just re- 

 ceived notification of the award of the 

 gold medal at the Ala?ka-Yukon-Pa- 

 cific Kxposition for new paony-flow- 

 erad dahlias. 



It is reported that Mr. George Philp 

 has severed his connection with Sher- 

 man & Eberle of Albany, N. Y. It is 

 said he has his ear to the ground lis- 

 tening for "dat call." 



.Tohn Rodger, Sr., of John Bodger & 

 Sons, wholesale seed growers of Gar- 

 dena, Cal., has just returned from 

 Europe, having visited several of the 

 leading sei-d firms in England, Ger- 

 many, France and Holland. 



Mrs. H. A. .Jahn of New Bedford re- 

 ports a considerable demand from 

 abroad for dahlia seed. Last winter 

 she was successful in producing fiowers 

 in midwinter from tubers planted in 

 the greenhouse in the fall. The blooms 

 were sold for fifteen cents each. 



The dinner to be tendered by the 



Pennsylvania Florists' Club to Mr. 

 Lonsdale, prior to his departure for 

 California to take charge of the Bur- 

 pee Ranch, promises to be a rather 

 large aifair, as the Florists' Club will 

 be liberally represented, and in addi- 

 tion, many of the Philadelphia seeds- 

 men and some of their out-of-town 

 friends will te present. An account of 

 the dinner will no doubt be given In 

 next week's issue. 



It is learned that a well-known seed 

 firm in Central New York is on the 

 eve of a dissolution of partnership. 

 Whether this will mean the retirement 

 of one of the partners or two stores In 

 place of one has not been definitely 

 learned, though the probabilities are 

 in favor of the latter proposition. For 

 reasons good and sufhcient, it is not 

 considered advisable to give names at 

 this writing, but full details will be 

 furnished in the near future. 



While there is likelihood of one of 

 the Central New York firms splitting 

 up, there is another very anxious to 

 sell out. Just what this latter has to 

 offer is not known, but something 

 tangible must be shown, as people of 

 this day will seldom buy empty shell3. 



Crop report of October 6, from Hjal- 

 mar Hartmaun & Co., Copenhagen, is 

 as follows 



Cauliflower— Not harvested. "Early" 

 and "Earliest Erfurt" seems to give 

 full crop provided there is a good tall. 

 • Diy Weather" or "Danish Giant" will 

 ripen very late and result is doubtful 

 yet. 



Cabbage— Harvested. Is short and 

 gives only 25 to 50 per cent. crop. Red 

 cabbage even less. The reason is frost 

 in the heads before planting last fall 

 and attack of Insects during the sum- 

 mer. 



Turnip and Swedes — Crop short and 

 price 50 per cent, over usual price. 



Mangold — Crop insignificant and not 

 even suflficient to cover the Danish 

 market. 



Lily of the Valley pips— Crop excel- 

 lent, quality very fine. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



G. Benard, Orleans, France — General 

 Wholesale Price List of Plants, Hardy 

 and Tender. 



W. K. Nelson, Augusta, Ga.— Price 

 List of Field Grown Roses and Orna- 

 mental Shrubbery. 



Anton Schultheis, College Point, N. 

 Y.— Wholesale Price List of Florists' 

 Plants, Fall 1909, Spring 1910. Illus- 

 trated. 



Samuel Smith, Slaghill Nursery, 

 Derbyshire, England — Special Trade 

 Offer of Trees, Shrubs, Border and Al- 

 pine Plants. 



F. C. Heinemann, Erfurt, Germany. 

 —Special Trade Offer of Novelties, 

 1910. This contains illustrations of 

 some promising things in flowers and 

 vegetables and is accompanied by a 

 plate showing several of them in nat- 

 ural colors. 



Hjalmar Hartmann & Co., Copen- 

 hagen, Denmark — Wholesale Price List 

 of Cauliflower, Cabbage and Danish 

 Root Crop Seeds. Attention is called 

 to the high quality of Danish lily of 

 the valley pips, w'hich ripening earlier 

 in the northern climate are especially 

 desirable for early forcing, giving well 

 developed foliage for Christmas. 



