762 



HORTICULTURE 



June S, 1B16 



SEED TRADE 



One Week's Imports. 



Imports lit tho i>on of New York 

 of hortlculturnl matiTial, for the week 

 ending May 19. were roconlcd iis fol- 

 lows: 



UulbB— Belgium, $59; France, »G; 

 Netherlands. $774: England, $144. 



Plants, trees, etc.— France, $1,002; 

 Netherlands. $S.S85; England. $5:508 ; 

 Ireland. $5; Bermuda, $13; Trlnadad, 

 $130; Brazil. $2,184; Japan, $215; Co- 

 lon, $2,852. 



Red clover seed— France, $9,603: 

 Italy, $CS,873. 



Grass seed— Scotland, $418. 



Other seeds— France. $14,742; Ger- 

 many. $:!(;0; Italy, $4,988: Malta, 

 $8,059; Netherlands. $29; England. 

 $42,560; RriUsh East Indies, $1,437; 

 Morocco. $2,236. 



Nitrate of soda— Chile. $80,144. 



"Titanic" Wheat. 

 The U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture has recently been advised by a 

 correspondent in California that a va- 

 riety of wheat is being advertised un- 

 der the name •'Titanic." The asser- 

 tion is made that it is a new variety 

 of wheat discovered in England about 

 four years ago, and that a small quan- 

 tity of seed was brought to the United 

 States by one of the survivors of the 

 ill-fated Titanic. The wheat is repre- 

 sented as having extremely hi.gh yield- 

 ing power, the returns reaching as 

 high as 7.000-fold. .-V photograph sent 

 by this correspondent shows a head 

 identical in appearance with the 

 widely exploited "Alaska" wheat. Five 

 acres of the wheat are said to be 

 growing in the State of Washington, 

 and the seed, it is believed, will be 

 offered at high prices after harvest. 

 The Department has no further or 

 more definite information concerning 

 this variety, but farmers and dealers 

 are cautioned to be on their guard 

 concernins: thi.s new exploitation. 



The Wind and the Seed. 



After all. the wind is the great 

 sower. Bad seeds and good seeds are 

 sown by the wind— here, there, every- 

 where! Good seeds are dropped where 

 they cannot grow and had seeds are 

 sowed where they are not wanted — 

 even amongst the flowers that are so 

 delicate and beautiful. 



But it is the whim of the wind to do 

 wanton sowing. Into the wheat is 

 dropped the cockle, and into the park 

 the thorn. The weed does not ask that 

 its seed be harvested for the spring. 

 It leaves them to the wind. It trusts 

 the wandering wind and is not disap- 

 pointed. 



The wheat and the corn rely on 

 other sowers. The good they do when 

 grown guarantees their protection and 

 planting again and again, but the evil 

 done by weeds never condemns them, 

 except to partial destruction. They 

 prosper on negligence and thrive on 

 sloth. They are the rags of beggars 

 that decorate abandonment. They fol- 

 low and fare with the wind that, like 

 a roving hag, sows them up and down 

 the land wherever Satan walks. 



Better Seed 



Of recent years there has been a conBtantly iucrea.-iinii 

 npprofialioii on tin- [mrt of seed planters of tlu* im|)or- 

 tanoe of tlie variftal t|iinli(y of the seed us;pd. There is a 

 growing deniaiul. imt <>nlv tlial seed furnished ?hall lie of 

 strong vit;ilit.v, lint liuit t'lith and every grain shall Ik- of 

 the distinct varietal character of the sort. Planters, par- 

 ticularly those who plant for market, are not satislie*! 

 when a planting of Minnesota sweet corn produces a 

 large yield of 8, 10, 12 or 16 rowed ears, but dcninnd 

 that at least 90 jxsr cent, of the plants shall prf>- 

 dttce only typical cars of the sort. Experienced 

 planters recognize that the varietal character, lUid 

 often the rjuantity of the yield, while influenced 

 t\v local climatic and cultural conditions, is very 

 largely predetermined by the breeding of the seed 

 used, which is rarely clearly revealed by the wisest and 

 most careful inspection of the seed itself. 



Tlie planter has to depend as blindly upon his seeils- 

 Mian in the character of the seed furnished as the phy- 

 sician does upon his druggist. The doctor may be mis- 

 taken as to the effectiveness of a drug ordered for a cer- 

 tain case, but common sense and the law sustain him in 

 his demand that, if the druggist undertakes to fill the 

 prescription, he shall fill it as it was ordered, and not 

 by substituting something else which he has heard and 

 believes is as good or better. The planter has a similar 

 right to expect to receive the exact variety of seed he 

 ordered, fjuite independent of the seedsman's opinion of 

 its comparative merit. 



A horticultural variety propagated by seed is made 

 up of an infinitude of individuals, eacli caiT^nng a po- 

 tentiality of variation, and seed is valuable in propor- 

 tion to which every inidosirable variation, be it ever so 

 trifling, is cut out from the line of probable transmis- 

 sion, so that the stock becomes unifonn in varietal 

 character. 



The call from garden and farm is not so much for 

 new and improved varieties, as for truer stocks of old 

 sorts of proven merit, and the seedsman who can offer 

 such stock is going to get the trade rather than the one 

 who relies upon newer sorts or lower prices. 



yY-tyCc^ Laj 



Washingloti, D. C. 



■^ 



And I cannot say nor surmise why 

 the wind is such a sower of had seed, 

 nor why the whirlwind scatters them 

 afar. A slattern with red tongue and 

 lips black with libel could not so 

 slander broad and fertile acres. 



And, with infinite mischief and sin- 

 ister design it rots the noble oak with 

 poison vines and chokes old temples 

 with lush leaves and rank growth. 



"Sow the wind, and riot in destruc- 



tion," comes the piping, shrill, discord- 

 ant voice as it drags its drabbled skirts 

 across the land and swishes them into 

 the salt seas. 



It sets thistles in pastures, fennels 

 in plowed fields, vetches in rose gar- 

 dens, traitors amongst friends, and a 

 .ludas at the feast. — Anonymous. 



.Mushroom spawn Is a very scarce 

 commodity this season. 



"Seeds with a Lineage" All Varieties 



TTioroughly tested at our trial grounds, Raynes 

 Park, London, England. Send for Catalogue 



CARTERS TESTED SEEDS^ Inc., comocrce BidiTBrti!^ mm. 



