108 



HORTICULTURE 



July 



1911 



Seed Trade 



Earl Talks on Crop Prospects. 

 An Interview by Our Philadelphia Corres- 

 I, ill with Howard M. Earl, Man 



r for w. .\ii.'.- Burpee .v Co., 

 Julj 10, 1911. 



Some weeks ago we announced in 

 these columns that we had hopes of 

 able i" give our readers a tew 

 hints as to crops and the outlook 

 gleaned from the impressions of that 

 experienced observer, Howard M. Earl, 

 during his recent comprehensive crop 

 inspection tour from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific and back. Thes.- nopi 

 have been realized. Mr. Earl v.-rj 

 kindly granted your correspondent 

 some precious minutes, and we give 

 herewith a few of his frank express- 

 ions on the situation and outlook — as 

 he saw them: 



Among tin- first questions asked: — 

 "Mr. Karl, if it is permissible to ask 

 such a delieate and important ques 

 tion of the world's leading wholesali 

 sweet-pea growers, would you be will- 

 ing to say without reserve how tie 

 sweet pea crop looked to you early in 

 June during your visit to California?" 

 "Certainly! A paper of HORTICUL- 

 TURE'S standing in the reliability 

 and conservatism of its seed trade 

 news— not to speak of its enterprise 

 and leadership in that connection— is 

 entitled to information relating to 

 California crops. To state the matter 

 clearly I may put your question under 

 its proper divisions: 



"One. On the whole sweet pea crops 

 in California early in June were late — 

 owing to rains coming at an abnor- 

 mal time." 



• Two. Sweet peas will probably 

 average fifty to seventy-five per cent 

 of a crop. The shortage is especially 

 pronounced in the true "Spencer" class. 

 These are as usual, casting their 

 blooms without setting seed." 



"What about the other crops you 

 examined?" was asked. 



"Onions look well, and there should 

 be a fair average crop— ample for all 

 demands. The only exceptions I 

 would note are:— Yellow Globe Dan- 

 vers, and Southport Yellow Globe. On 

 these two varieties, I believe, many 

 growers are already heavily oversold— 

 judging from present indications on 

 their acreage. I think white varieties 

 will also be under an average crop; 

 but I have a suspicion that many seed 

 firms have contracted with the grow- 

 ers more than they can use in their 

 trade, and therefore think there will 

 be plenty of white to go around." 



"Is there any truth in the report 

 that the parsnip crop will be short?" 

 "Yes." said Mr. Earl. "I think that re- 

 port is well founded. Many growers 

 lost their roots entirely, and I found 

 that many growers who had not lost 

 all their roots were already heavily 

 oversold. Some of the latter had 

 been east taking orders from the 

 seedsmen while the damage was hap- 

 pening. So they are not to be blamed 

 for having 'bitten off more than they 

 could chew.' Y.-s, there is no doubt 

 of it— parsnips will be very short." 

 "How are the carrots coming along?" 

 "These are in the same boat as the 



parsnips. They will be a very short 

 pop The roots were partially or en- 

 tirely lost. Of all the carrot crops I 

 siu on my trip, not one looked prom- 

 ising or in anyway up to the mark." 



Your correspondent at this point 

 was getting rather blue and pessimis- 

 tic. He asked his cheerful "image- 

 breaker" if he didn't have a few op- 

 timistic items to mix in. All lean and 

 no fat is a pretty poor cow — on the ta- 

 ble. 



"Oh; don't get alarmed, there are 

 lots of things that are all right. Take 

 salsify for instance. That looked very 

 nice — very promising — and I am sure 

 will be a full crop. Then there is rad- 

 ish. I think, all things considered, 

 radish also will be a good crop. With 

 some growers there are fields that are 

 a bit 'spotty;' but taking character 

 of the season into consideration, there 

 is no doubt in my mind as to the out- 

 come when the harvest comes around. 

 As for parsley, everything looks rosy 

 for a good yield. But I do not look 

 for any surplus as there has been a 

 big shortage in Europe, and our dear 

 cousins across the water are eager to 

 take all our surplus at good figures. 

 There should be a fair crop of celery 

 and leeks are looking very promising." 

 "Very good, Mr. Earl, that is encour- 

 aging; but there is a very important 

 California crop you have not men- 

 tioned yet. What about lettuce?" 



"Yes, of course, I had that in mind 

 when you interrupted me with your 

 'fat and lean' foolishness. As every- 

 body knows, there is a very large area 

 devoted to this in California, to sup- 

 ply the regular American trade. Last 

 year, however, in addition to this, 

 there were several important French 

 seed firms who on account of unfavor- 

 able conditions in France decided to 

 risk a crop on the Pacific Coast. So 

 the area this year is much larger than 

 usual. I cannot give a very glowing 

 account of the outlook. I think the 

 crop will only be about fair to mid- 

 dling. At the time of my visit the out- 

 look did not seem to be nearly so 

 promising as it was at the same time 

 in 1910." 



"They grow spinach and tomatoes 

 out there?" 



"Yes, to a limited extent. Spinach 

 looked fairly well. Tomatoes had only 

 just been set out, so little could be 

 predicted about them." 



"What about beans? We look a 

 whole lot now-adays to the Pacific 

 Coast fur Limas and such." 



"Sure enough! Especially in South- 

 ern California — in such places as Ven- 

 tura, Santa Paula, and other towns 

 that go to make up what they call 

 the bean district. Of course, I was 

 too early to form a definite opinion, 

 as beans were but just beginning to 

 make their growth. But judging from 

 tin- excellent stands which 1 saw, I 

 should say that there are good pros- 

 pects for Limas, and other varieties 

 that do well in that climate. Other 

 sorts, planted farther north, also 

 looked promising. A curious feature 

 of the situation, is the exaggerated 

 idea a farmer has as to what a seeds- 

 man should pay him for Limas for 

 need, when the demand for dried 

 limas for food, is good! But it is no 

 funnier than the same notion of the 

 Eastern brother when Navy beans are 

 in good demand. Both think the price 



of seed beans should go up according- 

 ly — independent of any conditions, for 

 or against, in the seed trade." 



"We guess that about exhausts the 

 supply ot interrogation points for the 

 present, Mr. Earl, and we thank you 

 very much for your interesting talk 

 both for the readers of HORTICUL- 

 Tl'RE and for ourselves. But just 

 one final one. — We suppose California 

 has now about reached its limit in re- 

 gard to seed production and we will 

 now have to look further afield for 

 our increasing needs?" 



"By no means. Very few realize the 

 possibilities of California as a seed- 

 producing locality. As time goes on, 

 we are going to find that the possi- 

 bilities there are almost without 

 limit and that many, many more va- 

 rieties — varieties that are now grown 

 in Europe and elsewhere can be grown 

 to far better advantage in California. 

 There is nothing more positive to my 

 mind than the truth of Peter Hender- 

 son's dictum 'California will yet be the 

 seed garden of the world.' " 



We think our readers will be pleased 

 with the foregoing condensed epitome 

 of a three-weeks' trip among the grow- 

 ing seed crops of the west by a gentle- 

 man who is a keen observer and an 

 able and experienced seedsman. It is 

 hard to get a seedsman to talk, and 

 jour correspondent is rather conceited 

 over having at last been able to get 

 one of the big ones to "open up." We 

 shall persevere, now that the ice is 

 broken, and may get some more by 

 and by. 



GEORGE C. W'ATSON. 



We understand that the fierce fires 

 which have been raging in Michigan 

 are located directly in the pea-grow- 

 ing section. The subject is so seri- 

 ous a one that we hesitate to quote 

 from one of our jocose correspond- 

 ents who suggests that we may find 

 next year a new variety of pea 

 pushed by some enterprising seeds- 

 man under the name of "Baked" or 

 "Roasted." 



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