1646 



SEEDAGE 



David Landreth, of Philadelphia, seem to have been the 

 largest dealers at that time. Thorburn's was perhaps the 

 first business of importance devoted entirely to stock 

 seeds, though this honor is disputed by the descendants 

 of David Landreth. Thorburn, in his autobiography, 

 savs that he began his business by buying out the stock 

 of one George Inglis for fifteen dollars, Inglis agreeing 

 to give up the market and to devote himself to the rais- 

 ing of seeds for Thorburn. This is but one of many 

 small beginnings from which has grown a trade which 

 now amounts to many millions, and this relation between 

 seedsmen and growers is largely typical of relations 

 which have obtained in the trade ever since. 



Railway and Postal Service. -With the development 

 -of the railway and the postal service the business grew 

 by leaps and bounds, new land was found suitable for 

 different varieties of seed, and a letter could carry to 

 the countryman the garden seeds for his yearly con- 

 sumption. There is probably no trade which has been 

 more widely benefited by cheap postage and improved 

 mail facilities, but of late years the abuse of their privi- 

 leges by members of Congress has largely tended to 

 negative this benefit. The originally beneficent distri- 

 bution of free seeds to pioneers and needy settlers was a 

 form of agricultural encouragement against which there 

 could be no adverse criticism, but it has degenerated 



2302. Mirror box for testing grass seeds. 



into an abuse, which is estimated to have taken a trade of 

 some $4,000,000 during the past two or three decades out 

 of the hands of the men who have built up the business. 



Ca ta logues. Grant Thorburn's catalogue of 1822 was 

 the first to be issued in pamphlet form, and it was the 

 pioneer of the many finely and carefully illustrated 

 catalogues with which we are familiar to-day. These 

 catalogues have been largely instrumental in facilitat- 

 ing the specialization of the industry and its subdivi- 

 sion in the hands of the country dealer, who buys seeds 

 at wholesale, combining as they do the most complete 

 lists and illustrations of varieties with directions as to 

 methods, conditions, and seasons for planting. They 

 are distributed literally in hundreds of thousands. 

 It is of interest to remember that up to 1844 the word- 

 ing on the bags was written by hand, a laborious and 

 expensive process, which of itself is an indication of 

 the small volume of the trade at that date. 



Imports and Exports Statistics. With regard to the 

 export of seeds, A. J. Pieters' admirable report for 1899 

 in the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture may 

 be taken as the latest information. He says in part: 

 11 The statistics of exports date from 1855, and no sepa- 

 rate records of imports of seeds were kept before 1873. 

 Clover and grass seeds, especially timothy, have always 

 taken the lead in the seed export trade, and until recent 

 years garden seeds have not been a considerable factor 

 in the total values. In 1825 some 10,000 bushels of 

 clover seed were exported to England within a few 

 months. How long this trade had existed we do not 

 know. From 1855 to 1864 there is no record of any seeds 

 exported except clover, but the value of exports increased 

 from $13,570 in 1855 to $2,185,706 in 1863, the war ap- 

 parently having no effect on the trade. The total value 

 of the clover seed exported during this period aggre- 



SEEDAGE 



gates $5,393,663. During the decade ending with 1880 

 clover seed was not separately entered except in the 

 last year, but the total exports of seeds amounted dur- 

 ing that period to $20,739,277. The aggregate was in- 

 creased by more than $3,000,000 before the end of 1890. 

 From 1891 to 1898 there has been a slight reduction in 

 the average annual value of seed exports and also in 

 the amount of clover and timothy seed sent abroad." 



Development of Home Industry. The importation of 

 staple garden seeds had largely decreased by 1870, and 

 with the exception of a few staples in agricultural and 

 flower seeds, America may be said to have become to a 

 great extent self-supplying. The greatest development 

 of this industry has taken place since the close of the 

 war. In 1878 J. J. H. Gregory estimated that there 

 were in all 7,000 acres devoted to garden seeds,. while 

 the census of 1890 showed that there were 596 seed 

 farms, containing 169,850 acres. Of these farms, 200 

 were established between 1880 and 1890, and it is likely 

 that about 150 more were started during the same 

 period. The census returns, however, do not give the 

 actual acreage devoted to growing seeds. As many 

 seeds are grown by those not regularly in the business, 

 it is probable that census returns as to acreage are un- 

 der rather than over the mark. The statistics available 

 in the United States Census are very imperfect, partly 

 owing to the lack of a continuous system in presenta- 

 tion, both in the returns of home industry and also in 

 custom house returns, but chiefly to the reluctance of 

 seedsmen and growers to make public the results of 

 their business methods or even the methods themselves. 



Contract System of Growing. The contract system of 

 supply has been the general method pursued by the 

 larger seedsmen, farmers in those locations best suited 

 to certain seeds contracting to grow supplies from stock 

 seeds found by the seedsmen. As a rule, one, farmer 

 will grow only one or two varieties. A saving in the 

 expense of supervisions has been made by the growth 

 of the system of subletting a contract. The middleman 

 being posted on the abilities of his neighbors and the 

 qualities of their soils for many miles around, can often 

 place and keep sight of the growing of many more varie- 

 ties than he himself could handle on his own land. 

 Many of these middlemen do not grow seeds themselves 

 but act merely as the seedsman's growing agent among 

 the farmers of a large district. Excepting in California, 

 where the growers as a rule devote their whole capital 

 to the business, it is a frequent custom throughout the 

 country for seedsmen to make cash advances against 

 crops. Few seed houses grow their own seeds. 



Values of Staples, Home-grown and Imported. The 

 following table will give as close an estimate as can be 

 made of the annual cost of the chief staple garden 

 seeds handled in America: 



Garden peas $1,000,000 



Garden beans 300,000 



Onion seed 300,000 



Lettuce seed 250,000 



Cabbage seed 100,000 



Sweet corn 100.000 



Tomato seed 50,000 



Radish seed 30,000 



Turnip seed 25,000 



Beet seed 15,000 



Celery seed 5,000 



Miscellaneous seeds, Flower seeds 



Probable invoice cost of imported garden 



$2,175,000 

 150,000 



1,700,000 



Total growers' value $4,025,000 



An estimate recently made by one of the largest 

 seedsmen in the country gives the capital invested in 

 the business at about $12,000,000, and the actual acreage 

 under seed at the present time as about 150,000 acres. 



Staples and Localities of Production. The following 

 may be taken as the present principal garden seed 

 staples and the localities where they are most profitably 

 raised (See, also, Bailey, "Principles of Vegetable Gar- 

 dening," p. 170) : 



String beans: New York, Michigan, Wisconsin. 

 Beets : Imported chiefly from France, owing to bet- 

 ter method of selection in practice there, but would 

 adapt itself to almost any of the older states of the 

 Union. 



