652 



HOKTICULTUEB 



May 19, 1917 



SEED TRADE 



AMBiOCAM SEED TKAOE ASSOCIATION 



omcera — President, KIrby B. White, 

 Detroit, Mich.; I- Inat Vice-President, F. 

 W. BuIkIbdo, Washington, D. C; Seo- 

 ood VUe-Presldent, L. L. Olda, Madl- 

 ■on. Wis.; Secretary-Treasurer, C. B. 

 Kendel, Cleveland, O. — Convention at 

 Detroit, June 19, 1917. 



The Seedman's Side. 



That the seedmen get blamed for 

 the high prices is to be expected. But 

 once iu a while the worm will turn — 

 as witness this protest by Michell's 

 manager, to a Philadelphia daily. 



Editor of The Record : 



I w.TS very uiuch amused to read an ar- 

 ticle by L. K. Passmore in your issue of 

 May 4. This is another case of a man 

 writing about something of which be 

 knows nothing. I might just as well start 

 an argument about the discount rates of a 

 bank (and I believe that this man is the 

 president of a bauk). You, as well as I, 

 know that when there is little demand for 

 money the rates of interest hover around 

 3 per cent., but when there is big demand 

 for it they jump up to 6 per cent. This is 

 exactly the case in the price of seeds, ex- 

 cept that the high prices of the latter are 

 justiHable. -, . ^ 



In other words, there are not sumcient 

 seeds today to supply the demand, and 

 in many cases, such as our own, seedsmen 

 have e.xhausted the supplies of their origi- 

 nal contracts placed with growers and are 

 obliged to call upon the growers for more 

 goods, who in many instances supply the 

 present demand, but no doubt sacriflce 

 their planting stock to do so; and I want 

 to tell you that the country, despite all the 

 planting that is being done, will face far 

 more of a shortage of seeds for 191S plant- 

 ing than it does today. This is brought 

 about l)v the fact that a great deal of the 

 planting' has not been intelligently admin- 

 istered. 1 feel safe in saying that 80 per 

 cent, of the gardens planted by amateurs 

 will fail, because of lack of knowledge on 

 the part of the planter, despite all we 

 seedsmen are doing to educate them in the 

 art of gardening, as this is a thing that 

 cannot be l>rougiit about in a few months. 

 We have distrilnited. this season, in the 

 neighborhood of 100,000 cultural leaflets and 

 guides, which will help a lot, but I know 

 there are some people who are digging up 

 their back yards, which have an inch of 

 soil in them and a foot of cinders, and 

 planting in that. This procedure is simply 

 a means of waste, and they cannot harvest 

 anything. They might as well take up a 

 block of cement in their cellars and do their 

 planting there. In other words, some peo- 

 ple don't know whether a tomato grows 

 under the ground or on a bean pole. 



This Mr. Passmore also speaks of onion 

 sets being 75 cents a quart. Let me tell 

 vou that we paid for these (and bad to 

 beg for them at that) $13 a bushel. Now, 

 when we measure these onions out to be 

 sold at retail, pack them in quart boxes, 

 label them, wrap them and, in most cases, 

 deliver them, do you think that the differ- 

 ence between the cost price and the sell- 

 ing price leaves much of a net profit .' 



I honestly don't believe that there is a 

 seedsman in business who has taken unfair 

 advantage of his trade; in fact, there have 

 been manv cases where some of us should 

 have restricted the quantity of seeds we 



PIN MONEY 



MUSHROOM 

 SPAWN 



8 lb. for $I.OO 



Directions Included 



WM. ELLIOTT & SONS 



42 Vesey St., New York! 



Lily Bulbs — Cold Storage 



GIGANTEUM 



Per 100 



6/S (400 to case) $4.00 



7/9 (300 to case) 5.50 



8/10 (225 to case) 7.50 



3/10 (200 to case) 9.00 



FORMOSUM 



Per 100 



7/9 (250 to case) $5.50 



9/10 (200 to case) 8.00 



11/13 (100 to case) 12.00 



Per Case 



$14.00 

 14.40 

 14.75 

 16.50 



Per Case 



$11.50 



14.50 



11.75 



MELPOMENE MAGNIFICUM 



Per 100 



8/9 (200 to case) $6.50 



tP/ll (125 to case) ■ ll.OO 



11/13 (100 to case) 15.00 



13/15 ( 60 to case) 20.00 



Per Case 



$12.00 



13.25 



14.50 



12.00 



Per 1000 



$35.00 

 4S.00 

 65.00 

 82.50 



Per 1000 



$45.50 



72.00 



U7.50 



Per 1000 



$60.00 

 105.00 

 145.00 

 100.00 



flrfbur £. Boddington Co., Inc., "'nSTA^- 



"Seeds with a Lineage" All Varieties 



Thoroughly tested at our trial grounds, Raynes 



Park, London, Elngland. Send for Ccitalogue 



CARTERS TESTED SEEDS, Inc., 



166 Chamber of 

 Commerce Blcl(., Boston, Mast. 



sold, in order to conserve the supply. 



Paul F. Richtee. 



Philadelphia, May S, 1917. 



There is food for thought in the idea 

 that once sold out, the seedman had 

 lietter stay sold out, rather than take 

 the curses of the know-nothing mob. 

 There is little money in it, and for all 

 the profit better let the other fellow 

 swallow the pill! 



Seed Committee Named. 



A committee on seed stocks has 

 been appointed by the Secretary of 

 Agriculture to secure full information 

 in regard to the available supplies of 

 seed for staple food crops and to de- 

 vise methods of meeting shortages in 

 particular regions. 



The committee consists of the fol- 

 lowing members: 



R. A. Oakley, chairman, agronomist, 

 forage crop investigations, Bureau of 

 Plant Industry. 



L. M. Estabrook, chief. Bureau of 

 Crop Estimates. 



William A. Wheeler, specialist in 

 marketing seeds. Office of Markets 

 and Rural Organization. 



John E. W. Tracy, assistant superin- 

 tendent of testing gardens, Bureau of 

 Plant Industry. 



William Stuart, horticulturist. Bu- 

 reau of Plant Industry. 



C. P. Hartley, physiologist in charge 

 of corn investigations, Bureau of Plant 

 Industry. 



A. J. Pieters, agronomist, forage 

 crop investigations, Bureau of Plant 

 Industry. 



C. W. Warburton, agronomist, cereal 

 investigations. Bureau of Plant In- 

 dustry. 



and other reports as to available sup- 

 plies of seeds of crops for late planting 

 and will assist in locating seed stocks 

 for localities where shortages exist. 

 The committee is co-operating with 

 state, local and commercial agencies in 

 an effort to secure better distribution 

 of seed and to encourage plantings of 

 important crops. 



Information regarding shortages and 

 surplus stocks should be addressed to 

 R. A. Oakley, chairman, Committee on 

 Seed Stocks, U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, Washington, D. C. 



Washington, D. C. — No seeds lor free 

 distribution nor for sale is at the dis- 

 posal of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. The Department, how- 

 ever, through its committee on seed 

 stocks is receiving daily telegraphic 



MICHELL'S 



PRIMULA SEED 



PRIMULA CHINENSIS 



(Chinese PrimroNe) 



>4 tr. pkt. tr. pkt 

 Michell's Prize Mixtnre. An 



even blending of all colors.$0.60 $1.00 



Alba Magniflca. White 60 1.00 



Chinnick Red. Bright red.. .60 1.00 

 Duchess. White, with zone 



of rosy carmine, yellow eye. .60 1.00 



Holborn Blue 60 1.00 



Kermesina Splendens. Crim- 



son 60 1.00 



Rosy Morn. Pinlj 60 1.00 



PRIMULA OBCONICA GIGANTEA 



A great improvement over the old type, 

 flowers much larger. tr. pkt. 



Tyilacina. Pale lilac Jfl.'iO 



Kermesina. Deep crimson 50 



Rosea. Pink 50 



Alba. White 50 



PRIMULA MALACOIDES 



T>l1ao. Trade packet $0.50 



Alba. White .50 



Rosea. Light rose to carmine rose. .50 



Also all other Seasonable Seeds, Balbs, 



Plants and Supplies. 



Send for WHOLESALE CATA- 

 LOGUE if yoo haven't a copy. 



HENRY F. MICHELL CO. 



518 Market St. Philadelphia, Pa. 



