544 



HOKTICULTUEE 



October 21, 1916 



SEED TRADE 



AMHIICAN SBED TRADE ASSOCIATION 

 Officers— President, Klrby B. Wblte, 

 Detroit Mich.; First Vice-President, F. 

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

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

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

 CleTeland, O. 



Revising Estimates. 



Crop estimates this year are under- 

 going many changes, and these are 

 generally on the declining scale. It 

 thus comes about that estimates made 

 in the field some weeks ago are found, 

 when actual deliveries are made, to 

 be considerably out of line. We un- 

 derstand that this will apply to several 

 varieties of peas, and while no figures 

 have been given as to probable deliv- 

 eries of beans, the growers themselves 

 had formed mental estimates which 

 they have been obliged to revise be- 

 cause the crops have not come in ac- 

 cording to expectations or because 

 weather conditions — frost or other- 

 wise — have damaged crops that looked 

 as if they might make seed some 

 weeks ago. While these remarks are 

 perhaps too general to suit many 

 of our readers, we cannot be any more 

 specific with the information at hand. 



Two of the items in beans which 

 were the most abundant last year, and 

 which nearly everyone seemed to 

 have, were the Black Valentine and 

 the Late Refugee. This year these 

 items, particularly the latter, will be 

 among the very short ones, and 

 prices are likely to rule higher than 

 on those varieties which are usually 

 at a premium over either one of these 

 two. 



Peas and Beans. 



It probably will not be long before the 

 seed growers will send out estimates 

 of their expected deliveries of beans. 

 One of the largest growers of peas 

 and beans has sent out their estimate 

 of deliveries of peas. These estimates 

 show that with the exception of the 

 Dwarf Telephone, on which they will 

 deliver only 20 per cent., all other gar- 

 den peas will be nearly or quite 100 

 per cent., the exception being the Pio- 

 neer, Peter Pan and Laxtonian, of 

 which they will deliver 75 per cent. 

 Both Black Eye and White Eye Mar- 

 rowfats will be short, probably not 

 over 50 per cent., and quite possibly 

 less. Canada Field peas will be very 

 short and no percentages are named. 



Many weeks ago we expressed the 

 opinion that from reports that had 

 reached us we believed peas would be 

 good property to own this year. This 

 opinion has now been fully confirmed. 

 Alaskas are now selling at about $7.25 

 to $7.50 per 100 lbs. delivered in New 

 York, and the smooth E>:tra Earlies at 

 close to the same figures, while White 

 Marrowfats are even higher. Practi- 

 cally all garden peas are now selling 

 at from $1.00 to $1.50 per bushel 

 above the contracting prices of last 

 spring, and it looks as if the top had 

 not yet been reached. Beans are still 

 a more or less unknown quantity, but 

 as previously stated, it cannot be long 

 before the growers will find it neces- 

 sary to submit some kind of estimate 

 to their customers. 



IVII 



u 



HYAt^lNTHS 



First Size Xanied. Single and Double. 

 Second Size Named. Single 

 Third Size Named. Single. 



TULIPS 



Single Early, Double Early, Cottage 

 Garden ami Darwin. In named 

 varieties and niixtures. 



NARCISSUS 



Single ainl Double. A large variety. 

 LILIUM FORMOSUM 



Green .Stem Type. For early flower- 

 ing. 



Dark Stem Type. For Faster bloom- 

 injT- 



Lil. Longiflorum Giganteum 



Lll. Longiflorum Multiflorum 



AVrite us your requiromLUts on anj' 

 ' f tbe above or any otber Seasonable 



I'.lllllS. 



tlLIUM FORMOSUM 



OCR WH01.ES.\EE C.VTA- 



I-OCUE OF BULBS, SEEDS .\XD 

 FLORIST.S' .SUPPLIES FREE. 



HENRY F. MICHELL CO., 



518 Market St. 

 PHILADELPHIA. 



"Seeds with a Lineage" All Vaurieties 



Thoroughly tested at our trial grounds, Raynee 



Park, London, Elngland. Send for Oiteilogue 



CARTERS TESTED SEEDS, Inc., commerce BUtTBostM, m>u. 



Vine Seeds and Spinach. 

 Nearly all vine seeds, particularly 

 cucumbers will be in abundant supply. 

 This applies particularly to the stand- 

 ard varieties. There will, of course, 

 be some odds and ends which will be 

 short. We have mentioned in pre- 

 vious issues that one of these Items 

 will doubtless be Early Summer 

 Crookneck and Giant Summer Crook- 

 neck squash. Hopes are entertained 

 that through diplomatic pressure the 

 embargo on spinach seed may be lifted 

 so that dealers will be able to get at 

 least a part of the quantities contract- 

 ed for in Holland. There is a report 

 that a certain Long Island cabbage 

 seed grower has been experimenting 

 with the growing of spinach seed 

 somewhere in the central or western 

 part of New York State. "We have 

 not learned the result. 



peas was, became known some weeks 

 ago, but the other three items have 

 been undetermined until very recently. 

 Severe frosts have finished all crops 

 of tomatoes, beans and corn, and it 

 may be said, in a general way, that 

 string" beans will not be above 40 

 per cent, of last year's pack, corn from 

 40 to 50 per cent., and tomatoes but 

 little over 50 per cent. These points 

 are mentioned because many of the 

 seed trade sell to canners the seeds 

 they use, and are thus indirectly inter- 

 ested. 



European Demand. 

 We have referred heretofore to an 

 active demand for peas from Europe, 

 particularly England and France. We 

 understand that a considerable quan- 

 tity of Extra Early peas have been 

 sold to a leading French seed house, 

 while several prominent British deal- 

 ers have been buyers of the large 

 podded early and late varieties. They 

 are still buyers, but at last reports had 

 not been able to cover their require- 

 ments. 



Canners' Shortages. 



Now that the crop season for the 

 canners is practically at an end it is 

 known that the shortages in the four 

 leading items in the vegetable line, 

 peas, string beans, corn and tomatoes 

 will be even shorter than some of 

 these items were estimated some 

 weeks ago. Just what the pack of 



Potatoes and Onions Very High. 



According to the report of the 

 National Department of Agriculture, 

 potatoes are the shortest they have 

 been in five years or more, and it is 

 thought that record prices will be real- 

 ized by midwinter for fancy clean 

 stock. The onion crop is short and 

 prices are running unusually high for 

 this time of year, and this will apply 

 to onion sets. It looks like another 

 year of high prices for both sets and 

 large onions. 



One Week's Imports 



Imports at the port of New York, of 

 horticultural material, for the week 

 ending October 6th, were recorded as 

 follows: 



Bulbs — Netherlands, $146,961; Eng- 

 land. $736; Hongkong, $943; Japan, 

 $2,523. 



Plants— Belgium. $726; Netherlands, 

 $2,275; England. $1,191; Brazil, $677; 

 Colombia, $128; Venezuela. $530. 



Clover Seed— France. $13,237. 



Grass Seed — Denmark, $10,448; 

 England, $10,431. 



Other Seeds— France, $5,007; Eng- 

 land, $3,833; Hongkong. $384. 



Salts of Potash— Japan. $5,467. 



Nitrate of Soda— Chile, $640,276. 



