82 



HORTICULTUEE 



January 17, 1911 



SEED TRADE 



AMERICAN gSEED TRADE ASSOCIATION 



Officers — President, Chas. C. Massie, 

 Minneapolis, Minn.; 1st vice-president, 

 J. M. Liupton, Mattltnck, N. V.; 2nd 

 vice - president, W. F. Therkildson, 

 Painesrlile, O. ; secretary, C. E, Ken- 

 del; assistant secretary, S. F. Willard, 

 Jr., both of Cleveland, O. 



Business Expansion. 



The following notice, taken from 

 The Public Ledger, Dec. 30th, 1913, is 

 an indication that Philadelphia is still 

 keeping up its reputation as a seed 

 center and also that Henry A. Dreer, 

 Inc., are continuing to make a healthy 

 growth. 



Settlement was made yesterday by Wil- 

 liam F. Dreer, President of Henry A. 

 Dreer, Inc.. for the property 716 Chestnut 

 street, lot 22 feet 6 inches by 140 feet, re- 

 cently purchased by bim from Charles C. 

 Harrison. The price paid for the property 

 is not disclosed. It is assessed for the 

 present year at .fTO.flOO. and was sold clear 

 of encumbrances. Henry A. Dreer, Inc., 

 have owned and occupied the adjoining 

 property, 714 Chestnut street, lot of the 

 same size, for many years. It is the pur- 

 pose of the Dreer firm to enlarge its pres- 

 ent store by taking in 716 Chestnut street. 

 The sale is of particular interest as indi- 

 cating not onl.v the first movement of 

 realty in the block between Seventh and 

 Eighth streets on Chestnut for several 

 years, but an intention on the part of the 

 Dreer firm to maintain and enlarge the 

 business in the location which it has oc- 

 cupied so long. 



Extensive alterations are now under 

 way, so that the two buildings will be 

 connected in time for the spring trade. 

 These two large buildings, together 

 with their six-story warehouse at 710 

 South Washington Square, will be 

 used entirely in handling their ever in- 

 creasing business in seeds, bulbs and 

 horticultural supplies; the plant end 

 of the business jjeing taken care of at 

 their nurseries. Spring Grove, River- 

 view and Locust Farm. 



This increase in space in which to 

 handle their business will be of great 

 advantage and the plans now under 

 way will make the Dreer store one of 

 the best equipped in the seed trade, 

 giving ample facilities for taking care 

 of the large number of customers who 

 throng the store each day during the 

 spring months. 



Unfavorable Legislation. 

 The attitude of the present Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture toward the free 

 seed distribution, is one that must be 

 hailed with pleasure by the seed trade 

 in general. He is the first Secretary 

 since the time of J. Sterling Morton, 

 who has taken this attitude, and, by 

 the way, the only one between him 

 and Mr. Morton was Mr. Wilson. In 

 talking with seedsmen, Mr. Wilson 

 generally pretended to be opposed to 

 the free distribution, but, nevertheless, 

 under his fostering care, this graft 

 grew from eleven millions to sixty-five 

 millions of packets during his admin- 

 istration of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment, and had he remained another 

 four years, the chances are that the 

 grand total would have reached one 

 hundred million packets. A consider- 

 able number of the employees of the 

 Agricultural Department devote their 

 time exclusively to this branch of de- 

 partment activities, and. of course, are 

 always in favor, not only of maintain- 

 ing the free distribution, but of in- 



creasing it. If this unjustifiable prac- 

 tice could be discontinued, a consider- 

 able number of both men and women, 

 who are now feeding at Uncle Sam's 

 crib, could be turned out to earn their 

 living in lines that would be of some 

 benefit to the general public. 



Seeds Discriminated Against. 



While discussing this matter, our 

 attention was recently called to the 

 seed laws, both state and national, 

 that have been passed in the last few 

 years. The men Vvho legislate on this 

 subject are. as a rule, absolutely ig- 

 norant of the matters they are con- 

 sidering, and the result of these laws 

 in most cases is the creation of com- 

 missions to secure their enforcement. 

 The men appointed are usually Ignor- 

 ant and inefficient. Under the parcel 

 post law, seeds are about the only 

 commodity barred. Animals of nearly 

 all descriptions, fish and fowl — both 

 dead and alive — 'may be sent by parcel 

 post, but seeds, which are always se- 

 curely packed and are as neat and 

 clean a commodity as could be sent 

 by post, are ruled out and must pay a 

 higher rate of postage. If the aim of 

 the law is to benefit the dwellers in 

 the rural districts, there is nothing 

 more important to them than the 

 ability to secure their seeds from re- 

 liable houses in convenient form and 

 at low rates of postage, for it must be 

 borne in mind that whatever the post- 

 age rates are, the buyer of seeds ul- 

 timately has to pay them. 



By the way, why is it that the Na- 

 tional Department of Agriculture will 

 examine so few samples of grass seeds 

 for seed merchants each month, while 

 for employees or farmers they will ex- 

 amine and report on any number? 



Are Pea Prices Too High? 

 The contracting prices of the seed 

 growers for the current year's crops 

 show in many lines a marked reduc- 

 tion from those of the past few years. 

 This is notably so in the matter of 

 peas, but it is a question if prices are 

 quite in line with present conditions. 

 It must be borne in mind that the 

 figures heretofore ruling have been 

 the result of a succession of severe 

 croi shortages when prices were ab- 

 normally high, seed stocks exception-' 

 ally valuable and short in supply, to 

 such an extent that many buyers, both 

 seedsmen and canners, were unable 

 to cover their full requirements from 

 year to year. At the present time, 

 with the exception of a very limited 

 number of varieties, there is a super- 

 abundance of peas. Nearly every 

 seed grower is carrying surplusses of 

 considerable magnitude, while the 

 seed merchants themselves are over- 

 loaded. In the face of this situation, 

 it would seem to have been the part 

 o? wisdom for the growers to have 

 made their prices more in harmony 

 with the existing conditions than to 

 continue to keep prices at the present 

 high level. The regular recognized 



(Coyttitiufd on page QO) 



GARDEN SEED 



r.EET. CAIIUOT. PARSNIP. RADISH and 

 GARDEN PEA SEED in variety ; also other 

 items of the short crop of this past season, 

 as Avel! H'^ a full line of Garden Seeds, will 

 be quoled y<'u upon application to 



S. D. WOOfiRUFF & S€NS. 82 Dey St., NEW YORK 



and ORANGE, CONN. 



MICHELL'S NEW CROP 

 FLOWER SEEDS 



VERBENA SEED 

 Michell's .Maminutb Eancy Strain. 



Tr. I'kt. Oz. 



Mammoth Fancy, Blue *0.:',0 $1.25 



Pink 30 1.25 



.Scarlet :iO 1.25 



Striped 30 1.25 



" " White -Vi 1.25 



Mixed 30 1.00 



S.\LVIA SEED 



Michell's .Scarlet Glow $0.50 $3.50 



Bonfire 40 2.00 



Splendens 25 1.00 



Zurich 50 4.00 



ASTER SEED 



Queen of the Market 



Dark Blue $0.20 $0.75 



Light Blue 20 .75 



Crimson 20 .75 



Blush Pink 20 .75 



lULise Pink 20 .75 



White 20 .75 



Choice Mixed 20 .65 



.\SP.4R.4GUS PLIJMOSUS N.VNrS 

 Northern Greenhouse (irown .seed. 



5O0 Seed $1.75 o.OIKI Seeds.. .f 15.00 



l,OnO " a.-.'u ](}.(KH) " .. 29.00 



Special prices on l:ir;:er r|u:intUies. 



Send tor Our Latest Wholei-ale Cat- 

 ulogue of Seeds, Bulbs, Plants and 

 rlorists* Supplies if .you haven't re- 

 ceived a cop.\'. 



HENRY F. MICHELL CO. 



Growers and fmporters 

 518 Market Street, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



Kelway & Son 



Wholesale Growers to the Trade of 



Choice Stocks of 



GARDEN, FARM 



AND 



FLOWER SEEDS 



Please Write Now for Our 



CONTRACT PRICES 

 Langport, Eng. 



Onion Seed 



Write us for price on both globe and 

 flat varieties. We are also quoting 

 Onion Sets. 



Schilder Bros., '""o"h.o™' 



NEW CROP SEEDS 



FOR FLOBIKT8 



Ask for 1913 CstalaiKDes 



Joseph Breck & Sons Corp. 



47-54 No Market St., B iSTON, MASS. 



1. W. Edmundson, Mgr. M. W. Williams. Stt'j 



California Seed Growers 

 Association, Inc. 



Growers For Wholesale Dealers 



SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA 



