380 



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March 24, 1917 



SEED TRADE 



AMERICAN SBfiD TRADE ASSOCIATION 



OfTlcers— President, Klrby B. White, 

 Detroit, Mich.; First Vice-President, F. 

 W. Bolgiano, Washington, D. C. ; Sec- 

 ond Vice-President, L. L. Olds, Madi- 

 son, Wis.; Secretary-Treasurer, C. E. 

 Kendel, Cleveland, O.— Convention at 

 Detroit, June 19, 1917. 



American Sugar-Beet Seed Industry. 



Sugar-beet seed of good quality and 

 in large quantities must be produced 

 in .the United States if the highest de- 

 velopment of the beet sugar industry 

 in this country is to be reached, say 

 plant specialists of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture in an article in 

 the forthcoming Yearbook of the De- 

 partment. The domestic beet siigar in- 

 dustry, in which more than $100,000,- 

 000 is now invested, was almost who*ly 

 dependent until the o\itbreak of the 

 European war on a seed supply from 

 Europe. Since the normal importation 

 of seed was interfered with liy hostili- 

 ties, efforts have been made to grow 

 the necessary seed in this country, but 

 though the production from approxi- 

 mately 4,000 acres of beets was har- 

 vested in 191t), this was hardly more 

 than sufficient to idant the acreage of 

 beets required by the natural expan- 

 sion of the industry. Some seed was 

 imported with great difficulty for the 

 lfll6 planting, but several sugar fac- 

 tories remained idle because of the in- 

 sufficient supply of seed. 



No grave difficulties, it i.s believed, 

 stand in the way of the domestic pro- 

 duction of high quality seed sufficient 

 to meet the needs of this country. In 

 practically all instances the American- 

 grown seed has been found suijcrior to 

 the imported seed. This is true of 

 seed grown under various conditions 

 in a number of different portions of 

 the country. The problem, in so far 

 as the mere possible replacement of 

 European seed by American seed is 

 concerned, would seem to be only a 

 matter of the planting of greater acre- 

 ages in this country. This does not, 

 however, take into account the econo- 

 mic side of beet seed production nor 

 the possibility of improving the quali- 

 ty of the seed. The chief reason for 

 the dependence of America on the 

 importation of seed in the past was 

 the low price at which the supply could 

 be obtained from abroad. 



The studies of plant specialists ot 

 the Department of Agriculture lead 

 them to believe that the quality ot beet 

 seed and of the crops which such seed 

 produce can be improved greatly by 

 selection and plant breeding, and that 

 as a result the cost of production of 

 seed in this country can be reduced. 

 At present there are in this country 

 no distinct types ot sugar beets. In 

 many sugar beet fields throughout the 

 country, whatever the name of the so- 

 called variety grown, from 6 to 20 or 

 more distinct types of beets can be 

 found. In tact, scarcely two beets 

 growing side by side in the same field 

 have closely related external charact- 

 ers of leaf or root, and the quality of 

 roots varies in both sugar and purity. 

 Equally wide variations may be found 

 in the beet seed fields, especially with 

 reference to habit of growth of seed 



stalk and yield of seed. Because of 

 this condition ot affairs plant special- 

 ists take the view that the first step 

 in the development of a permanent 

 beet seed industry in this country lies 

 in the development of true types with 

 reference to both seed beets and seed 

 production. 



The production of beet seed requires 

 two seasons ot growth. The mature 

 beets resulting after one season from 

 the seed must be harvested, the leaves 

 removed and the roots carefully siloed 

 with a dirt covering to preserve tnem 

 in a dormant condition through the 

 winter. These roots are planted at 

 the earliest possiule time the following 

 spring and rapidly produce seed stalks 

 from 3 to 6 feet in height. These are 

 harvested with a sickle at the proper 

 time and the seed carefully threshed, 

 cleaned and cured. 



New Seed Stores 



Ozark. Ark.- Conatser & Hill. 



Vidalia, Ga.- G. F. Dixon. 



Wrightsville, Ga. — Rowland Grain 

 & Seed Co. 



Stockton, Cal. — James Knox has 

 taken over the retail seed business of 

 tlie Hobbs-Parsons Co. 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL 

 COLLEGE NOTES. 



Clark Thayer, instructor at Cornell. 

 has arrived in Amher.st to fill tempo- 

 rarily the position left vacant by Pro- 

 fessor Nehrling. 



The Florists' and Gardener.s' , Club 

 .\nnual is being distributed. .Members 

 of the trade may obtain copies by ad- 

 dressing Harry Saidel. Amherst. Mass. 



Professor A, H. Nehrling left Am- 

 herst last Saturday to take up his new 

 work as manager of the McDonald 

 Floral Company. Crawfordsville. Indi- 

 ana. 



The students' problems on carna- 

 tions have been handed in and are 

 generally good, showing a splendid 

 grasp of the subject both as to culture 

 and the details of construction, heat- 

 ing, marketing, and the entire busi- 

 ness end. The problems are also so 

 good that it will be difficult to deter- 

 mine which are the best. 



NEW CORPORATIONS. 



Clevis, Cal. -Wilson Vineyard Co., 

 nurserymen, capital stock, $25,000. In- 

 corporators, J. A.. G. C. and B. B. Wil- 

 son. 



Mt. Vernon, N. Y.— J. B. Arndt Co.," 

 florists, capital stock, $5,000. Incor- 

 liorators, J. B. Arndt. Geo. M. and De- 

 lia Gibbs. 



Syracuse, N. V. — F. H. Eberling, 

 Inc., dealers in seeds, plants and bulbs, 

 capital stock, $125,000. Incorporators, 

 F. A. and F. H. Eberling and A. A. Day. 



MICHELL'S 

 BULBS 



DISTINCTIVE QUALITY 



BEGONIAS 

 CALADIUM, Esculentum 

 CALADIUM, Fancy Leaved 

 CANNAS 



DAHLIAS 



GLADIOLUS 



TUBEROSES 



Also all other Seasonable Bulbs, 

 Seeds and Supplies. 



Send for Wholesale Catalogue 



MICHELL'S SEED HOUSE 



518 Market St., PHILADELPHIA 



PIN MONEY 



MUSHROOM 

 SPAWN 



8 b. for $1.00 



Directions Included 



WM. ELLIOTT & SONS 



42 Vesey St., New York 



SEEDS, BULBS, PLANTS 



AND 



Florists' Necessities 



americanTbulb CO. 



172 N. Wabasb Ave.. Chicago, Ul. 



JAP. LILIES 



F. RYNVELD & SONS 

 25 West Broadway - New York 



"Seeds with a Lineage" All Varieties 



Thoroughly tested at our trial grounds, Rayne« 



Park, London, England. Send for Oitalogue 



CARTERS TESTED SEEDS, Inc., commerce BidgTBo'it^ ku... 



