348 



H ORTICU LTURE 



September 3, 1910 



Seed Trade 



The Onion Crop. 

 Crops oi various kinds are now ma- 

 turing to tile point where some definite 

 knowledge can be liad of the results. 

 We are informed that the onion crop 

 in the State of New York is going to 

 be very light. We learn that the bulbs 

 dried down prematurely and as a con- 

 sequence, are uuder sized and of rather 

 inferior quality. The Ohio crop Is re- 

 ported to be in much the same condi- 

 tion, though somewhat better, while 

 the crop of Indiana will be almost, if 

 not quite, uji (o the average in quality 

 and yield. We are not prepared to 

 vouch for the accuracy of these repoits 

 but give them as they come to us and 

 will doubtless receive more definite in- 

 formation in the near future. 



Onion sets, while a rather light crop 

 this year, are said to be of very good 

 quality and the impression among deal- 

 ers seems to be that there will be 

 enough to meet requirements. The seed 

 trade are interested in onions and on- 

 ion sets because of the bearing which 

 these crops have on the future demand 

 for seed. When prices for the bulbs 

 and sets are reasonably high and the 

 demand good, there is always a corre- 

 sponding good demand for seed, where- 

 as large crops, low prices and slow de- 

 maud is always felt by the decreased 

 consumption of seed. 



past few weeks, but the crop is late 

 and there is much anxiety about frost. 

 Very little late corn will be beyond 

 danger of damage by frost before the 

 first to the second week in October, 

 and a killing frost any time during 

 September would certainly prove disas- 

 trous to the crop. Early varieties stand 

 a better chance of maturing, but the 

 reduced acreage coupled with short 

 yields will without question make 

 early varieties scarce and higher in 

 price than usual. 



Beans. 



Beans, as pointed out in these col- 

 umns some weeks ago, give promise of 

 a very excellent crop in New York 

 State, but in Michigan the crop will be 

 short even with the most favorable 

 weather conditions up to harvest time. 

 It is also well to bear in mind that 

 a bean crop is never assured until it 

 is actually in store, as a rainy period 

 immediately following harvest would 

 be likely to do great damage to the 

 crop. 



Peas. 



Several representatives of foreign 

 seed houses are now on this side and 

 all report very light crops of peas on 

 their side, and as a rule, they have 

 nothing to offer American seedsmen in 

 this line. On the contrary, several of 

 them arrived in this country with or- 

 ders to buy peas, but they will find it 

 no easy matter to secure leading varie- 

 ties in quantities especially the large 

 podded sorts. It certainly does look as 

 if new high price levels will be reached 

 this year, for nearly all varieties of 

 peas. We learned of a recent sale of 

 about 1200 bushels of Alaska peas to 

 a canning concern at $4.50 per bushel 

 and this was not what may be called 

 high-grade pedigree stock. We men- 

 tioned some weeks ago a sale of a 1000 

 bushels at ?5.25, but in this instance 

 the peas were choice high-grade goods 

 These transactions, though small, are 

 straws showing the course of the wind, 

 and we may evidently look for mate- 

 rially higher prices during the next 60 

 or 90 days. We have not heard of any 

 price being named on any of the large 

 podded varieties such as Telephone, 

 Duke of Albany, Gradus, Thomas Lax- 

 ton or in fact any of this class of peas, 

 and it is doubtful if any of the seed 

 growers will be able to offer anything 

 in this line this season, while the 

 seedsmen will receive such short deliv- 

 eries that practically all of them will 

 be buyers, providing they can find any- 

 one willing to quote them. 



An Active Season Coming. 



The leading seedsmen are returning 

 from Europe and vacation trips gener- 

 ally and getting ready for the fall bulb 

 trade, which promises to be very ac- 

 tive this season. This department of 

 the seed trade will doubtless occupy the 

 attention of most of the seedsmen for 

 the next 60 days and they will not be 

 giving seeds as much attention as thev 

 will a little later. After the leading 

 growers have submitted their prelimi- 

 nary estimates of what they expect to 

 deliver of various crops, the dealers 

 will doubtless become active in their 

 efforts to cover shortages, and there 

 will be many this year. The sooner 

 that they can give this matter atten- 

 tion, the more certain they are of se- 

 curing what they want, but even now 

 they will find it exceedingly difficult to 

 secure quotations on many lines. 



Notes. 



Dav. Adams, formerly at Thorburn's, 

 has gone "on the road" for Buds of 

 New York. 



John Slimon, formerly with Thor- 

 burn, succeeds C. W. Scott as manager 

 of Vaughan's Seed Store, New York. 



Corn. 



Sweet corn of the late varieties has 

 made great improvement during the 



DUTCH BULB NOTES. 



Complaints are becoming very gen- 

 eral in the country as to the condition 

 of the bulbs, more particularly hya- 

 cinths and tulips, which have suffered 

 from the excessive rainfall and the 

 high water level, and the early ripen- 

 ing of the leaves caused by the ab- 

 normally high temperature of the 

 month of May, so that the bulbs can 

 in no case be of large size. At various 

 places the leaves have suffered from 

 blight. Hyacinths in middle of June 

 were moderately good in northern Hol- 

 land, about Noorwyk good, and at 

 Sassenheim, very good. By the Haar- 

 lem meer narcissi are very fine, and 

 in north Holland generally, good. The 

 condition of these bulbs is very good 

 in the districts Roelofarden and Noord- 

 wyk, and at Sassenheim, Voorscholen 

 and in Westland, only rather good by 

 comparison. All other bulbs are ev- 

 erywhere good and by Noordwyk even 

 very good. F. M. 



GLADIOLI IN LONDON. 



At the meeting of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society on August 16, Messrs. 

 Barr & Sons were exhibitors of Gladi- 

 olus Nancieanus, Gandavensis and 

 other strains; very beautiful being the 

 varieties President Chandon, Valmy, 

 La Fayette, of the former, and Klon- 

 dyke and Marie Therese among the 

 latter. The "Butterfly" varieties Mme. 

 Desbordes Valmore, Mephistophele 

 and Henri Sassaure are very pretty, 

 Herr W. Pfitzer, of Stuttgart, showed 

 Gladiolus gandavensis in massive, long 

 spikes, of colors not common here. A 

 silver flora medal was awarded. The 

 variety Europa, a pure white flower 

 of large size, received an award of 

 merit. 



The more striking flowers were 

 those of Frau Herme Seidel, Fer- 

 dinand Lanlerer, Julius Neumann, 

 Negerfurst, Mephisto Hohenstaufen, 

 Sarah Vautier. The varieties Grafln 

 Degenfeld, a creamy white, flamed 

 scarlet, and Karl Lutz, a deep scarlet 

 flower, were awarded certificates of 

 met it. 



Montbretias may soon become more 

 generally grown and their beauty 

 and adaptability was well shown by 

 the display made by Sydney Morris. 

 A few names of varieties may not be 

 unacceptable to readers of this journal, 

 viz., St. Botolph, King Edward, Geo. 

 Davidson, Hereward, Lady Hamilton, 

 Prometheus, Pageant, Lord Nelson and 

 Westwick. F. M. 



