Ontario Vegetable Growers Discuss Seed Production 



SEED production was the all impor- 

 tant theme at the tenth annual 

 convention of The Ontario Vege- 

 table Growers' Association. Production 

 and marketing problems came up for dis- 

 cussion, but the delegates recurred again 

 and again to the subject that was upper- 

 most in the minds of all, — where is our 

 seed to come from in the future? In the 

 past Canadian vegetable growers have 

 depended almost altogether on Europe 

 for seed, Germany supplying the greater 

 portion. The supply has now beeri cut 

 off by the war. There may be enough 

 seed in the country to meet the needs c f 

 growers for the crop of 1915. But what 

 about 1916? everyone asked. 



In the past Canadian vegetable grow- 

 ers have paid little attention to seed pro- 

 duction. "Can we grow our own seed?" 

 is the question they are now asking each 

 other. To answer it they brought to the 

 convention two of Canada's best known 

 seed experts, and combined their expert 

 evidence with the result of their own 

 practical experiences. W. T. Macoun, 

 Dominion Horticulturist, was unable to 

 be present, but a paper from him was 

 read on the all-important subject. The 

 feature of the discussion, however, was 

 the address of Paul A. Boving, of Mac- 

 donald College, Que., who brought to 

 the convention the knowledge gained 

 from seed growing on two continents. 

 His answer to the question, "Can Can- 

 ada grow its own seed?" was an em- 

 phatic, "Yes." He agreed that pro- 

 duction on a commercial scale might not 

 be profitable, but as to the advisability 

 of growers producing for their own use 

 he was most positive that they should. 

 Seed that has developed well under our 

 conditions, he maintained, can produce 

 progeny that will do even better. We 

 will be sure of the quality, trueness to 

 type and vitality of the seed we grow 

 ourselves. Mr. Boving questioned the 

 economy of importing all the seed of 

 a $35,000,000 crop. 



"Necessity now does away with rea- 

 son," said Mr. Boving. We must pro- 

 duce the seed if we would have it. An 

 important factor in the production will 

 be the government's subventions of 

 three cents to forty cents a pound that 

 will be paid growers for the seed they 

 produce on their oxVn farms. This seed 

 will be grown under government inspec- 

 tion and hence will be reliable. 



The first point enunciated in the grow- 

 ing of good seed was the selection of 

 foundation stock that is true to type and 

 of moderate size. In gathering roots for 

 seed purposes, Mr. Boving advised that 

 the feeding rootlets be disturbed as lit- 

 tle as possible and that a couple of 

 inches of the head be left on in order 

 that the crown be not injured. This lat- 



ter is desirable though not essential. 

 Storing he regarded as another impor- 

 tant point, the requirements being a 

 place as cool as possible, commensurate 

 with safety, and not too dry. At Mac- 

 donald College they have been pitting 

 their roots for seed production for the 

 past four years. In planting he advised 

 his hearers to remember that roots do 

 not stand drying in transport and had 

 best be planted on days that are neither 

 windy or sunny. The square system of 

 planting was favored, seed roots of 

 mangels being set in thirty inches apart 

 each way, and the smaller vegetables 

 twenty inches. 



Cross fertilization is one of the im- 

 portant points in seed production that 

 must be carefully watched. Swedes, for 

 instance, inter-cross with rape and tur- 

 nips, and a seed plot should be at least 

 one hundred and fifty yards from either 

 of these. Similarly mangles will cross 

 with beets and sugar mangles, carrots 

 with the wild carrot, and long radish 

 with globular, and different plots of all 

 these vegetables must be located a safe 

 distance apart, in carrots four hundred to 

 five hundred yards. 



Mr. Boving directed that mangle seed 

 be harvested when a cut in the cluster 

 revealed a mealy surface, turnips when 

 the bottom pods brown and the upper 

 ones turn yellow, carrots as the heads 

 ripen. 



Cabbage stock may be gathered in 

 September and transplanted to the 

 trench, where they will grow the follow- 

 ing year, and covered for the winter. If 

 the foundation stock has been particu- 

 larly good they may be left in the row 

 in which they have grown. In cauliflower 

 seed production he recommended grow- 

 ing the plants in greenhouses and set- 

 ting out in the spring. 



THE MARKETING PEOBLEM 



Discussion of the marketing problem 

 was first limited to retail selling direct 

 to the consumer. The establishment of 

 conveniently located markets in all larg- 

 er cities was favored. Mr. Thomas Del- 

 worth, of Weston, gave the subject a 

 turn, however, by declaring his belief 

 that producing and marketing call for 

 two distinct types of men and that for his 

 part he would hereafter confine his at- 

 tention to producing and let someone else 

 do the selling. This conclusion was 

 concurred in by F. C. Hart, head of the 

 branch on cooperation of the Ontario 

 Department of Agriculture, who main- 

 tained that the average profit on a grow- 

 er's load was not sufficient to justify him 

 spending half a day in selling it and an- 

 other half in delivering it. Neither did 

 Mr. Hart condemn the middleman. He 

 believed that the middleman system 

 had sprung up because it was 



convenient and desirable. Also he be- 

 lieved that through cooperation the pro- 

 ducer might own at least a part of the 

 distributing organization. 



What are the factors of successful co- 

 operation? Mr. Hart defined them as a 

 spirit of give and take among the mem- 

 bership, proper organization'^ sufficient 

 capital with which to do business, a busi- 

 ness manager who is competent, and a 

 willingness on the part of members to 

 take the usual business risks. 



Special mention was made of the good 

 work being done in farmers' clubs in 

 cooperative buying and selling. Several 

 instances were given, the most notable 

 one being that of the Rainy River Potato 

 Growers' Association, which belies its 

 name by shipping hay, grain, poultry, 

 eggs and live stock, in addition to pota- 

 toes. Last year this Association did a 

 business of eighteen thousand dollars. It 

 is financed on the joint and several note 

 of its members for two thousand dol- 

 lars. Each member is thus made finan- 

 cially responsible and his loyalty ensur- 

 ed. To extend similar cooperative or- 

 ganizations among the vegetable grow- 

 ers, Mr. Hart promised the full support 

 of his department. 



Vegetable growers in the vicinity of 

 Toronto lose ten thousand dollars from 

 the ravages of celery blight. In the past 

 season, Mr. S. C. Johnston has been 

 conducting experiments to determine the 

 efficacy of Bordeaux mixture (4-4-40) in 

 controlling the blight. In a few cases 

 the results were not satisfactory but the 

 general conclusion was that where celery 

 was well sprayed every week from the 

 time it appears through the ground up to 

 harvesting the blight may be almost ef- 

 fectually controlled. 



UNITED- STATES CONDITIONS 



Mr. Thos. Delworth, as delegate to 

 the American Vegetable Growers' Con- 

 vention, spoke of recent developments in 

 the vegetable business in the United 

 States. He made particular reference to 

 the efforts being made to utilize a sys- 

 tem of parcels post far superior to any- 

 thing we have in Canada, and to the 

 various systems of irrigation that he saw 

 in operation on United States vegetable 

 farms. He expressed a preference for 

 the Skinner system. 



The direct value of plant breeding 

 work to the vegetable growing industry 

 was the subject of an interesting talk 

 by A. J. Logsdail, of Ottawa. This work 

 at the Central Experimental Farm is 

 necessarily limited to early maturing var- 

 ieties. At present they are endeavoring 

 to produce a variety of tomato that will 

 mature early and at the same time ma- 

 ture a good percentage of its crop in 

 the first two weeks. Early Adirondack, 

 for instance, will mature only three to 



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