350 



HO RT I C IT L TURK 



April 12, 1919 



SEED TRADE 



AMERICAN SBBD TRADB ASSOCIATION 



Officers — President, F. W. ltoIg-lane, 

 Hwfaineton, D. C; First Vice-President, 

 Win. G. Scarlett, Baltimore, Bd.; Second 

 Vice-President, David Burpee, Philadel- 

 phia, Pa.; Secretary-Treasurer, O. E. 

 Kendel, Cleveland, O. 



OBSERVATIONS ON EUROPEAN 

 SEED CONDITIONS. 



On December 30, 1918, Dr. A. J. 

 Pieters, of the Forage Crop Investiga- 

 tions Section of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, and Mr. W. A. Wheeler, in 

 charge of Seed Marketing Investiga- 

 tions and the Seed Reporting Service 

 of the Bureau of Markets, sailed for 

 Europe for the purpose of obtaining as 

 reliable information as possible con- 

 cerning seed stocks and requirements 

 in European countries. Together they 

 visited England, Ireland, Scotland, 

 France, and Italy, during January and 

 February, after which Mr. Wheeler re- 

 turned to the United States and Dr. 

 Pieters remained in Europe to visit 

 Belgium and Holland. 



There are given here some of the 

 observations that were made in the 

 countries visited by both representa- 

 tives. 



Field Seeds. 



Red Clover. One of the principal 

 objects of making the European trip 

 at this time was to secure information 

 as to supplies and requirements of 

 European countries for red clover seed. 

 There had been considerable demand 

 from England for American red clover 

 and it was apparent that the supplies 

 in the United States were much below 

 normal and that if the demand was 

 normal this country would run short 

 of seed. The attitude of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture on this matter 

 was that clover seed should be fur- 

 nished to Great Britain, or other 

 Allied countries, to help meet their 

 planting requirements, even in the 

 face of a possible shortage in the 

 United States, but that it was not de- 

 sirable to attempt to meet all the com- 

 mercial demands without knowing 

 that such demands were for their own 

 planting requirements. 



Previous to leaving for Europe, the 

 War Trade Board, upon request of the 

 Department of Agriculture, had al- 

 lotted 3,000,000 pounds of red clover 

 seed for export to Great Britain. Upon 

 arrival in London a conference was 

 held with government representatives. 

 They had understood the allotment to 

 be 2,000,000 pounds, instead of 3,000,- 

 000 pounds, and felt that this would 

 hardly take care of their requirements. 

 Both government officials and seeds- 



MICHELL'S NEW CROP 



Asparagus Phimosus Nanus 



GREENHOUSE GROWN SEED 



1000 Seeds $3.00 10.000 Seeds $25.00 



5000 Seeds 13.75 25.000 Seeds 56.25 



Asparagus Sprengeri 



1,000 Seeds S0.75 



5,000 Seeds S.00 



10,000 Seeds... $5.50 

 25,000 Seeds... 12.50 



Special prices on larger quantities. 



Also all other Seasonable Seeds, Bulbs 

 and Supplies. SEND FOR OUR NEW 

 WHOLESALE PRICE LIST IF YOU 

 HAVEN'T A COPY. 



HENRY F. MIGHELL CO. 



518 MARKET ST., PHILADELPHIA 



men, however, thought that 3,000,000 

 pounds, with seed obtained from other 

 sources, would be ample for their own 

 planting. 



Clover seed was shipped to Great 

 Britain from both France and Italy. 

 The United Kingdom uses seed from 

 both of these sources, but prefers seed 

 coming from Britany, France, as this 

 is considerably north of the other 

 sources of supply. From observation 

 of conditions in France, in the absence 

 of accurate statistics, it appeared that 

 there was no real surplus of red clover 

 seed in France and that whatever seed 

 might be exported would need to be 

 replaced by seed from other sources, 

 and it was known that Italy was ex- 

 porting seed to both France and Eng- 

 land. The latest information received 

 is that France has prohibited further 

 exportation of red clover seed to Eng- 

 land. Italy apparently had a surplus 

 of clover seed for export. It was im- 

 possible to obtain any accurate figures 

 from either France or Italy as to their 

 supplies or requirements of red clover 

 seed. 



In the United Kingdom, American 

 red clover seed takes preference over 

 all other imported seed. With the 

 dealers it ranks second only to their 

 best home-grown seed. The dealers 

 are very much concerned about the 

 outlook for red clover seed for the 

 near future. They recognize that there 

 are no indications that the production, 

 either in England or in the United 

 States, will regain the normal of pre- 

 war years in the very near future. 



White Clover. Considerable white 

 clover seed is imported by the United 

 Kingdom from the United States every 

 year. No restrictions have been placed 

 upon exports from the United States, 

 because white clover does not occupy 

 an important place in our agriculture 

 as does red clover. In England, how- 



ever, it is a very important component 

 of their meadows and pastures. 



Timothy. The exports of timothy 

 seed from the United States to Europe 

 in the past have been largely for cen- 

 tral European countries. It is abso- 

 lutely impossible now, with the unset- 

 tled conditions in those countries, to 

 estimate their requirements. They un- 

 doubtedly will need large quantities 

 of timothy seed, which will probably 

 exceed prewar requirements. Just how 

 soon it will be possible to learn more 

 accurately regarding the timothy seed 

 situation in Continental Europe, it is 

 impossible to tell. 



Redtop. The redtop seed situation 

 is very similar to that of timothy, ex- 

 cept that it does not occupy so impor- 

 tant a place as timothy. 



Rye Grasses. Among the most im- 

 portant field seed imports into the 

 United States from the United King- 

 dom are the rye grasses. About two- 

 thirds of the rye-grass seed handled by 

 dealers is perennial and one-third Ital- 

 ian. The seed is exported largely by 

 wholesale grass seed dealers of Bel- 

 fast, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. About 

 five-sixths of the total production is ex- 

 ported, and the United States is one 

 of the leading importers of this seed. 



Orchard Grass, ob Cocksfoot. In 

 the past the larger part of the imports 

 of orchard grass into the United King- 

 dom have been from the United States 

 and New Zealand. In recent years, 

 Denmark has been offering consider- 

 able seed which, because of its better 

 average appearance and purity, has 



