870 



HOETICULTURE 



June 13, 1914 



AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSOCIATION 



OfflcerB— PrMldent, Cha«. O. HmbIc, 

 MionespoUs, Ulno.; l»t Tice-presldent, 

 J. M. tapton, Mattltack, N. Y.; !nd 

 vice - president, W. F. Therklldson, 

 PalnesTUle, O.; lecretury. O. B. Ken- 

 dd; ualstant »eoret«iT. 8. F. WUlard, 

 Jr., both of CUTeUad, O. 



The Adulteration and Misbranding of 



tile Seeds of Kentucky Bluegrass 

 and Redtop. 



During the calendar year 19ia seeds 

 of Kentucky bluegrass and redtop 

 were secured in the open market in 

 accordance with the following para- 

 graiih in the act of Congress making 

 appropriations for the Department of 

 Agriculture ; 



Wliere such samples Iseetls of grasses, 

 clciver, or alfalfa sefureil in tlie optu mar- 

 ket) are found to he ailulteriited or uiis- 

 hranded, the results of the tests shall he 

 published, together with the names of the 

 persons by whom the seeds were offered 

 for sale. 



In carrying out the provisions of 

 this act, 1,021 samples of the seeds 

 mentioned above were secured and 

 analyses made under the direction of 

 Mr. E. Brown, Botanist in Charge of 

 the Seed Laboratory, Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, and publication has been 

 made of the analyses of the 127 sam- 

 ples found to be adulterated or mis- 

 branded, together with the names of 

 the seedsmen by whom they were sold 

 or offered for sale. 



Of the 438 samples of Kentucky 

 bluegrass seed obtained, 1.^), or less 

 than 4 per cent., were found to be 

 either adulterated or misbranded. Of 

 these, 9 samples contained less than 

 2 per cent, of Kentucky bluegrass. 

 One sample was a mixture of redtop, 

 timothy, Canada bluegrass, and Ken- 

 tucky bluegrass. 



Of the .583 samples obtained as red- 

 top seed, 112 were found to be adul- 

 terated or misbranded. Of these, 110 

 samples contained timothy; 1, Ken- 

 tucky bluegrass and wood ineadow 

 grass; 1, Canada bluegrass; and 1, 

 Kentucky bluegrass, Canada bluegrass 

 and meadow fescue. 



Seed Trade Needs. 



New faces appear as the younger 

 generation grows up. This season we 

 fmd at Waterer's an Annan; at Dreer's 

 a Laird — both Scots of good address, 

 good training, and fine promise in the 

 seed business. Good seedsmen are far 

 too few in America. No business in 

 the world requires so much as the seed 

 trade the three essentials: _ 



(1) A high sense of honor. 



(2) A deep love of truth. 



(3) Unsubduable courage in de- 

 fense of both. 



It is a business where confidence in 

 integrity is absolutely fundamental. 



G. C. W. 



Chicago Seed Trade Notes. 

 Seed houses are now balancing ac- 

 counts and a fairly successful season 

 is reported, with nothing remarkable 

 to go on record. The onion set sales 

 were good up to the close of the sea- 

 son and none were left out of a large 

 crop, while prices held at a profitable 

 figure to the last. So far the prospects 



for seed crops for next season are fav- 

 orable. The Leonard Seed Co. report 

 the unusual rainfall of the past month 

 to have been generally favorable to 

 seed crops, though some damage has 

 been done in certain localities. This 

 Hrm will probably be represented at 

 the coming meeting of the American 

 Seed Trade Association at Washing- 

 ton, D. C, by S. F. Leonard and F. S. 

 Bennett. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



Mrs. Edward Campbell and daughter 

 Jeannette. of Ardmore. with party of 

 six, sailed on the "S. S. Haverford" on 

 the 6th inst. for a trip to the old coun- 

 try. They will return in September. 

 Bon voyage. It keeps your scribe busy 

 these days keeping track of the pil- 

 grims. 



The Laird of Lansdowne, alias Sir 

 Edward Reid, of Ranstead street, is 

 proudly showing to his -friends a mag- 

 nificent silver cup, the premier trophy 

 in the Reliability Run, Philadelphia to 

 Stone Harbor. Seventy cars started — 

 all of them new, fast and up-to-date. 

 The Reid car, under the masterly 

 handling of its owner, was simply, ir- 

 resistible. Hence the cup. Wonder if 

 Mr. Reid knows what a cup is for? 



John Burton and Mrs. Burton 

 started on an up-state auto trip for 

 nowhere in particular on Friday. 

 John's idea is to just keep on going — 

 and programs be hanged. This is a 

 real wayside wandering. Stop or go 

 on as the spirit moves. The last heard 

 of him was at Gettysburg, with no- 

 where to lay his head. We hope he 

 ujeets David Grayson on the way to 

 help him out in these "Adventures of 

 Contentment." 



What's the matter with Brother 

 Ebel now? After abandoning the "fal- 

 lacy" proposition he now starts in 

 about the "minimum." Everybody 

 knows that raising the minimum nec- 

 essarily raises the maximum — no mat- 

 ter whether one reason from induction 

 or deduction. Far be it from us to 

 make claims, but we may be pardoned 

 for thinking that as a rule we use 

 words that convey a clear meaning. 

 Involved or wobbly sentences are as 

 much out of place as crude thinking. 

 Alexander Pope is a pretty good model 

 but there were other good prophets 

 and heralds of modern gardening that 

 it would do no harm to study — Bacon, 

 Milton, Addison, Kent, and Horace 

 Walpole — for instance. 



The transportation committee of 

 which John Westcott is chairman held 

 a second meeting on the 9th inst. 

 From all we can hear the committee 

 will recommend Philadelphia to Bos- 

 ton via Reading and Metropolitan 

 Steamship, rate $5.80 each way; state- 

 room and meals extra. Pier 18 N. R., 

 New York, 5 p. m., arrival in Boston 

 7 a. m. — which means the party -will 

 leave Philadelphia from the Reading 

 Terminal sometime Monday forenoon, 

 probably about 10 a. m. This program 

 Is only tentative, of course, and is not 

 final until endorsed by the Club at 

 its regular meeting July 7. Meantime, 

 get busy making arrangements for the 

 most glorious trip ever — ^Monday Au- 

 gust 17, to Boston, 



The fine lawns that abound in and 



MICHELL'S 



Special Offer 



ORDER AT ONCE 



Gladiolus Bulbs 



Tuberoses 4x6 



90c per ICO, $7.50 per IGOO 



Send for Wholesale Price List 

 Charge Accounts Invited 



MICHELL'S ^V^^^ 



S18 Market Street 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



around Overbrook in the most fashionable 

 section of Northern West Philadelphia are 

 a reminder to the traveler of the lawns 

 one sees in Holland and in some parts of 

 Ireland. Possibl.y much of the beauty of 

 the verdure is due to the grass seed with 

 wliich the.se line lawns are planted that is 

 seinred and sold in tons by George C. 

 Watson, seedsman, who represents Messrs. 

 Harenbru^, Burgers & Co.. of Arnhem. 

 Holland. .Mr. Watson is a Scottish- 

 .Vuiericaii and is an acknowledged author- 

 ity on seeds and bulbs. The writer has 

 known him for many years and knows he 

 is fully equipped to represent these seed 

 sirowers of Holland, where the finest grass 

 seed is .secured and which is the home of 

 the bulb families known to horticulturists. 

 •Mr. Watson has also written several papers 

 nn the growing of plants in America, and 

 .also on the many variegated species of 

 I he lulip family. He is a bou-vivant and 

 a good talker, which naturally makes bim 

 a good salesman. 



— Philadelphia Despatch. 



Fierce things like the above are 

 liable to be done to a fellow if he hap- 

 pens to be a member of the pen and 

 jiencil club. 



The Michell peony show opened on 

 the 3rd inst. and was well attended. 

 The main store was a blaze of beauty 

 with all the popular varieties and the 

 west window was particularly attrac- 

 tive w'ith a good collection which com- 

 pelled attention from the passers-by. 

 Among the varieties that struck us as 

 among the handsomest in tlie general 

 display were; Alice Crousse, Faust, 

 Gigantea, Solfaerre, Alexander Dumas, 

 Anemonajflora Rubra, Caroline Allaine, 

 Flora Treasure, Octavia de May Bre- 

 fonneau, General Boisdeffre, Nana 

 Sahib, Mme. de Verneville, Augustin 

 d'Hour, Marguerite Gerard. There was 

 also a good showing of the ever-popu- 

 lar favorites such as Festiva maxima. 

 Louis Van Houtte, Madame Crousse, 

 etc. The display was not competitive, 

 gi'own mostly at the Michell nurseries 

 al Andalusia. From both an artistic 

 and business standpoint the show was 

 a big success. Mr. Farr. the peony 



