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HORTICULTURE 



August 19, 1916 



SEED TRADE 



AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSOCIATION 



Officers— President. Klrby B. White, 

 Detroit Mich.; First Vice-President, F. 

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

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

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

 Cleveland, O. 



Federal Seed Import Law Amended. 



The Federal Seed Import Act of 

 August 24th, 1912, was amended by the 

 approval of the President on August 

 11th of the Agricultural appropriation 

 bill, as follows: 



Seeds of retch and ryegrass are 

 added to the list of seeds contained in 

 the original Seed Import Law, and the 

 following new provisions are added, 

 •■and, hereafter, when any kind or var- 

 iety or mixture of the seeds subject to 

 the provisions of said Act of August 

 twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and 

 twelve, as hereby amended, shall con- 

 tain less than sixty-five per centum of 

 live, pure seed as distinguished from 

 dead seed, chaff, dirt, other seeds, or 

 foreign matter, such seeds or mixture 

 thereof shall be deemed unfit for seed- 

 ing purposes within the meaning of 

 said Act approved August twenty- 

 fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve, 

 and the importation of such seed or 

 mixture thereof is prohibited; Pro- 

 vided, however. That seed of Kentucky 

 blue grass and seed of Canada blue 

 grass shall not be considered unfit for 

 seeding purposes when they contain 

 fifty per centum or more of live pure 

 seed." 



This amendment, of so great inter- 

 est to Seedsmen and the purchasers of 

 seeds, was suddenly offered by the 

 Senate Committee on Agriculture and 

 Forestry to the Senate while consid- 

 ering the Agricultural appropriation 

 bill. The Senate agricultural commit- 

 tee adopted this amendment without 

 notice or the granting of any hearing 

 to those interested in this important 

 matter. There was no opportunity 

 given to object to this amendment in 

 the Senate except by raising the point 

 of order against the provision as new- 

 legislation, and. of course, such pro- 

 ceeding was impossible. Prompt and 

 strenuous opposition to this incon- 

 siderate action of the Senate was made 

 to the conferees of the Senate and 

 House, but these eight gentlemen de- 

 cided the case. 



Crop Notes by Bureau of Estimates. 

 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



New York. — Considerable complaint 

 is voiced by growers concerning the 

 late and wet spring which affected 

 various truck crops. While the north- 

 ern and western sections of the State 

 have been without much rain, the 

 southern and eastern sections have 

 been nearly flooded. Cabbage trans- 

 planting was from two to three weeks 



late, but it is understood the new- 

 plants took root w-el! and appear to be 

 in fair condition. Onions in Orange 

 County suffered from heavy rains the 

 latter part of the past month. Much 

 complaint is heard concerning the 

 lack of available labor to cultivate the 

 various crops. Much of the labor us- 

 ually employed in the cultivation of 

 onions and cabbages, etc., has been at- 

 tracted by high wages to the industrial 

 centers and the crops have suffered 

 thereby. 



IxDi.vN-i. — Celery has suffered in 

 some sections a little from blight. The 

 onion crop has improved over last 

 month and harvesting will probably 

 begin about August 15, 1916. In gen- 

 eral, conditions have been good during 

 .July. 



MicHiG.iN. — Complaints of severe 

 drouth have been received from cor- 

 respondents in this State. The cab- 

 bage worm and onion maggot are 

 mentioned by some correspondents. 



Wiscoxsi.N. — A severe drouth is 

 seriously affecting all ti-uck in Wiscon- 

 sin, especially the cabbage crop. Trans- 

 plantings are evidently suffering from 

 lack of moisture and plentiful rains 

 w-ould help much in assisting the new- 

 plants to take root and attain maturity 

 before frost. Transplanting was very 

 much delayed this season. 



Ohio. — Hot and dry weather is com- 

 plained of during the past month. 

 Onions have not impi-oved during the 

 month, owing to weather conditions 

 and lack of labor for the necessary 

 cultivation. Insects are complained of 

 to some extent in the cabbage and 

 onion sections. 



Low Germination of Crimson Clover 

 Seed. 



Washington. D. C. — Samples of lots 

 of crimson clover seed now- on the 

 market tested recently by the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture usually 

 have contained about one-third of dead 

 seed, and in many samples more than 

 tw-o-thirds of the seed was dead. It 

 is important, therefore, that planters 

 know- the quality of the crimson clover 

 seed they intend to sow-. 



Every lot of seed should be tested 

 for germination, and then seeded heav- 

 ily enough to insure getting a stand. 

 If the present supply of seed of low- 

 germination is sowed without testing, 

 and at a usual rate of seeding, poor 

 stands and failures w-ill follow even 

 under favorable weather conditions. 



Important Customs Ruling. 

 In a hearing before the Board of 

 General Appraisers in New York last 

 week. William Larzelere & Co.. Phila- 

 delphia, lost in a contention dealing 

 w-ith the classification of orchids. 

 They w-ere taxed at 25 per cent, 

 under the specific provision for 

 such flowers. The importers claimed 

 free entry under that part of the 

 same paragraph referring to all 

 mature mother flow-ering bulbs import- 

 ed exclusively for propagating pur- 

 poses. It appeared that the orchids 



"Seeds with a Lineage" All Varieties 



Thoroughly tested at our trial grounds, Raynes 



Park, London, England. Send for Csitalogue 



CARTERS TESTED SEEDS, Inc., c.«m«rlfBi?,rB«rt«, ««.. 



were imported for a woman who testi- 

 fied that she did not deal in flowers, 

 but imported them in this case solely 

 for purposes of cultivation. As they 

 were for use in a private greenhouse 

 the board decided the orchids did not 

 come under the free list provision. 



One Week's Imports. 



Imports at the port of New- York 

 ot horticultural material, for the week 

 ending Aug. 14th. were recorded as 

 follows: 



Bulbs— England. $311. 



Plants— Costa Rica. $82; Brazil. 

 $368; Colombia. $3,146; Venezuela, 

 $320. 



Red Clover Seed— France. $16,600. 



Clover Seed— England. $3,701. 



Grass Seed— England $6,234. 



Other Seeds— France. $259; Nether- 

 lands. $67; England. $915; Argentine. 

 $2,984; British India. $3,687; Japan, 

 $3,873; Morocco. $1,029. 



Nitrate of potash — British India, 

 $25,832. 



Nitrate of soda— Chile. $74,867. 



Other fertilizers— England, $680; 

 .Argentine. $2,911. 



Notes. 

 Lake Forest, IM. — George D. Reid 

 has been appointed manager of the 

 branch seed store of D. D. P. Roy, Chi- 

 cago. 



Chicago, III. — James Fisher has been 

 appointed western representative of 

 Carter's Tested Seeds, with headquar- 

 ters at 180 North Dearborn street. Chi- 

 cago. 



In the report by Consul General S. 

 Listoe to the U. S. Department of 

 Commerce it is shown that the value 

 of exports of bulbs and roots from 

 Rotterdam to the United States in the 

 year 1914 amounted to $1,251,138; in 

 1915. $1,272,968. Nursery stock in 1914 

 amounted to $647,996; in 191.5, $670,- 

 068. The report states further that 

 owing to the difficulties in exporting 

 tn the belligerent countries and the 

 diminished demand as a result of the 

 war, the growers were obliged to dis- 

 pose of their bulljs and flow-er roots in 

 the United States at lower prices than 

 heretofore, so that the actual quantity 

 of reports represented in the figures 

 exceeded considerably that of 1914. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Cromwell Gardens. Cromw-ell. Conn. 

 —Fall Catalogue. 1916. Hardy bulbs, 

 flowering plants, palms, garden roses, 

 herbaceous border plants, shrubs and 

 trees. Illustrated. 



M. Grelen. Oudenbosch. Holland — 

 Hardy Ornamental and Forest Trees. 

 Roses, etc. Wholesale Price List. 

 August Rolker & Sons. New York (Mty. 

 sole American agents. 



W. Atlee Burpee & Co.. Philadelphia. 

 Pa. — Burpee's Sweet Peas. Price List 

 of the New Winter-Flowering Spenc- 

 ers, Portraits of the great novelties — 

 Fordhook Pink and White. Fordhook 

 Rose. Fordhook Pink and Yarrawa, 



-Arthur T, Boddington Company. 

 New York — Bulbs. Seeds. Plants and 

 Sundries: Wholesale Price List for 

 Fall. 1916, Well compiled, w-el! illus- 

 tr.-ited and it will be distinctly to the 

 advantage of every florist bulb forcer 

 to send for a copy and peruse its con- 

 tents. 



