192 ANNUAL REPORT. 



The cry of "cheap seeds," too, has driven a number of re- 

 putable seed houses into the same channel. 



The man who buys seeds because they are cheap, gets what he 

 buys almost invariably. A few years ago a large seed house 

 was retailing turnip seed at a lower price than it could be pur- 

 chased for on the market. Accident disclosed the fact that they 

 were baking rape seed so that the grain would be destroyed, and 

 mixing with it a homeopathic dose of turnip seed; and as the 

 two looked exactly alike, and what came up proved turnip, the 

 purchasers probably ascribed the failure of the balance to the 

 unfavorable season, and kept right on buying his seed of the 

 same house because he could get it cheap. 



In walking through a large seed warehouse sometime since, I 

 detected the odor of burning brimstone, and my curiosity was 

 aroused as to what part brimstone could play in the fitting of 

 seed for market. Making some pretext for visiting that portion 

 of the building from whence the fumes proceeded, I came to 

 some cucumber seed, which was being bleached to remove the 

 yellow tint with which age had mellowed it. The tags on the 

 bags indicated that it had been in that building over twenty 

 years, and how much longer no one knows. 



The moral is this : Encourage your seedsmen to make quality 

 the first consideration by making it yours. Pay willingly a 

 good price for your seed and thereby fix the responsibility upon 

 the seedsman. 



If you do otherwise the irresponsibility and blame are your 

 own, and you help demoralize a trade of which the true basis 

 should be confidence and trust, and which all should endeavor to 

 sustain in its purity. 



Mr. Underwood moved that a committee be appointed on 

 legislation regarding the appointment of an entomologist, con- 

 sisting of Messrs. Wyman Elliot, J. S. Harris, and J. T. Grimes. 



Mr. Grimes asked to be excused from serving on the commit- 

 tee. He said that Mr. Elliot was acquainted with the members of 

 the legislature and would look after the interests of Hennepin 

 county, while Mr. Harris was acquainted in the southern part of 

 the State. Eamsey County is the second county in representation 

 and he would suggest President Smith as a proper man to be a 

 member of that committee. 



Mr. Underwood accepted the proposed amendment to his 

 motion. 



