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HOKTICULTURE 



June 4, 1910 



Seed Trade 



Counter Trade. 



Counter trade, while it has slackened 

 materially is still surprisingly active, 

 and each day finds something "run- 

 ning out," making substitutes very 

 necessary, but as a rule these substi- 

 tutions are in small quantities, and do 

 no one any serious injustice. In fact, 

 superior varieties are more often than 

 not substituted, hence even moral 

 ethics are only very slightly fractured. 



League Prices and Estimates. 



The latest pronouncement of the 

 Wholesale Seedsmen's League makes 

 one hold his breath in surprise. Prices 

 on turnips and spinach are pretty high, 

 but one is taken up into a sure-enough 

 high mountain when it comes to beets 

 and cabbages. These prices may prove 

 justifiable, but It certainly looks like 

 anticipating a famine, and while we 

 do not assume to criticise, we may 

 remark in passing that the tide of high 

 prices seems to have been checked 

 along general lines, and it may not be 

 wise to boost seeds to unnecessary 

 high levels at such a time. 



Speaking on the subject of prices, 

 it is only fair to remark that general 

 contracting prices on crop of 1910 are 

 the highest in a quarter of a century 

 on the lines of peas and beans, while 

 corn and most other lines are higher 

 than the average for the past ten or 

 fifteen years, and this of course justi- 

 fies some advances on the part of the 

 wholesalers, but it must be assumed 

 that deliveries on biennial root crops 

 will be very light to justify some of 

 the advances made. However, it will 

 not be long before we shall be get- 

 ting estimates more generally based 

 on actual conditions than for the past 

 few months, then we shall know bet- 

 ter how near a correct guess are the 

 recent prices of the League, for it must 

 be remembered they are only guesses 

 based on the best obtainable informa- 

 tion and they do not want to guess 

 too low. 



No tidings of woe have thus far 

 come from California — at least noth- 

 ing of an alarming character. No 

 news is surely good news from that 

 land, as our friends of the Golden 

 State never fail to take the seedsmen 

 into their confidence when they are 

 having any hard luck. 



The Onion Seed Situation. 

 A liberal shortage in onion seed 

 would be an unmasked blessing, as 

 this is surely one item of which all 

 of the larger houses will have a con- 

 siderable carry-over. Still there is an- 

 other point of view. It is common 

 knowledge that sales of onion seed 

 were very unsatisfactory to the trade 

 in general, and the whys and where- 

 fors have been subjects of lively dis- 

 cussion. Months ago we ventured the 

 opinion that it was due in great meas- 

 ure to the large quantities of local 

 grown seed in all of the large onion 

 growing sections. We still believe this 

 accounts largely for the light demand 

 the past season. There is a very gen- 

 eral belief that the home-grown seed 

 is better, and until the local growing 

 is made unprofitable by low prices it 

 will continue, and the seedsmen will 

 have reason to complain of poor de- 

 mand. We may cite one instance in 

 support of our theory. A certain 



I 1 



Only Ten Thousand Left 



I 



BRENCHLEYENSIS, pure scarlet, Gladiolus. 

 First size Bulbs 73c. per 100, $6.00 per 1000. 



Regular Price, $12.00 



Henry F. Michell Co. 



■ 



I 



518-1018 Market Street, 



Philadelphia 



prominent wholesaler sold annually 

 for a number of years between 2000 

 and 3000 lbs. of onion seed to a local 

 dealer, but for the past three years 

 their sales to this dealer have been 

 decreasing, until this year they sold 

 him only 300 lbs., composed wholly of 

 Red and White Southport Globes, and 

 this entirely because these varieties 

 were not locally grown. Of the Dan- 

 vers types and the Red Wethersfield 

 he was able to secure all he wanted 

 at prices as low, or lower than the 

 seedsman cared to sell, of the "home- 

 grown" seed, and his customers pre- 

 ferred it. This is only one Instance; 

 others could be cited if necessary, 

 hence we firmly believe this explains 

 to a considerable extent the disap- 

 pointing sales by the trade. 



Ferry & Co. Doings. 



The report that D. M. Ferry & Co. 

 were going to add two stories to one 

 of their large Detroit warehouses has 

 been confirmed. It is also understood 

 that they will rebuild their warehouse 

 at Windsor, Ontario, which was de- 

 stroyed by fire last winter. The growth 

 of tills firm's commission business has 

 been remarkable, and it is said they 

 now have nearly 250,000 merchant cus- 

 tomers. We learn that they are about 

 to send out a new and veiy handsome 

 seed packet, and they will not use 

 transparent paper. It is also rumored 

 that they are getting out a new type 

 of seed box or seed cabinet. They are 

 certainly alive to the needs of the 

 hour. 



Speaking of seed packets, have you 

 seen those of the Jerome B. Rice Seed 

 Co.? If their chief competitor excels 

 them, they will surely have to go 

 some. Please also take note of the 

 magnificent new seed cabinet which 

 the J. B R. S. Co. is sending out. 



NEWS NOTES. 



Enid, Okla. — The business of Kester 

 & Tarr is now conducted by G. G. 

 Tarr. 



Augusta, Ga.— The N. L. Willett 

 Seed Co. are now in their new quar- 

 ters at 849 Broad street. 



Pascoag, R. I. — Wm. Doel has taken 

 possession of the Slade Greenhouses 

 and is now ready for business. 



Grand Rapids, Mich. — Nick Luth has 

 four greenhouses 30 x 100 feet here 

 and has started growing vegetables. 



Kallspell, Mont.— The King-Thur- 

 man Nursery Co. has increased its 

 capital stock from $10,000 to $50,000. 



Newvrlle, Pa. — The greenhouses for- 

 merly conducted by David Nailor are 



now owned and operated by D. E. 

 Leckey. 



Mobile, Ala. — F. B. Feasell has pur- 

 chased the Sinclair place at Ocean 

 Springs and intends to build green- 

 houses. 



Wellsvllle, N. Y. — Mrs. Jennie Mc- 

 Ewen has purchased the greenhouse 

 on West street formerly owned by W. 

 F. Yewdall. 



Dorchester, Mass. — The Rosemere 

 Conservatories, 38 King street, are 

 under new management, W. H. Tom- 

 linson being the lessee. 



Northboro, Mass. — Alfred Thomas of 

 Worcester has purchased the estate 

 of the late Daniel Wesson with its 

 greenhouses, equipment, etc. 



Hartford, Conn. — The contract for 

 beautifying the grounds around the 8th 

 district school building has been 

 awarded to C. R. Burr & Co. 



Seattle, Wash.— E. C. Flohr is now 

 with F. S. Stimson, florist. He former- 

 ly conducted the Benton Junction Nur- 

 sery near Georgetown, Wash. 



Gainesville, Texas. — The greenhouse 

 of Henry Bertram was damaged by 

 fire to the extent of $2500 recently. 

 The loss is covered by insurance. 



Des Moines, la. — The Grant Parle 

 Greenhouses, East 25th and Walnut 

 streets, have been sold to George 

 Brandtman who is now located at 2406 

 Logan avenue. 



East Sudbury, Mass. — The green- 

 houses now run by Chester Williams 

 and which were formerly owned by 

 Coolidge Bros., pass into other hands 

 June 1st. The control will be assumed 

 by one of the former owners it is re- 

 ported. 



Hiawatha, Kans. — In our last issue 

 we reported Miss Susan Margrave as 

 building an addition. She now in- 

 forms us that she intends to build one 

 house 20 X 60 and a lean-to 12x110 

 feet. This will give her about 6,000 

 feet of glass of modern construction. 



Memphis, Tenn. — Messrs. Otto 

 Schwill & Co. inform us that they are 

 not to build greenhouses as has been 

 reported. They do, however, intend to 

 build a large seed warehouse this sum- 

 mer and ground has already been 

 broken for the building. They expect 

 to spend between $75,000 and $85,000 

 on this building and will be 100 x 180 

 feet, five stories in height and will con- 

 tain all the modern improvements in 

 seed cleaning machinery. 



Cedar Rapids, la. — Grant Newport 

 informs us that in addition to the 

 houses he intends to build, which we 

 reported in our last issue, he will 

 build two pits 11 x 100 for lettuce. He 

 now has 7 houses containing 18,000 



