Breeders' and Growers' Association 113 



corn selection and distribution and to establish standards 

 for the business of raising improved seed. He says further 

 that several important steps were taken to draw up rules 

 for the conduct of this business, which were generally 

 looked upon as visionary but which have become estab- 

 lished methods of procedure the seed-corn world over. 

 The first was that these seed-corn breeders agreed to send 

 out seed-corn in the ear, unless otherwise ordered. In 

 this way, the customers could get a definite idea of the 

 quality of seed purchased. It had previously been a 

 regular practice of seed-corn supply houses to send out 

 shelled seed, frequently of inferior quality and of doubtful 

 origin, without much fear of detection. The importance 

 of this step at that time can be fully appreciated only by 

 those who lived through those pioneer days. As soon as 

 the great seed houses realized that the movement for 

 better seed-corn thus begun was likely to prove successful, 

 they began a campaign of attack that would have dis- 

 mayed individuals working alone, but did not deter this 

 cooperative body of independent men. Many unscrupu- 

 lous seed-corn men were forced out of business as a conse- 

 quence of the revelations brought out by the discussions 

 then awakened in farmers' institutes, in agricultural 

 papers, and at corn shows, corn clubs, and in other meet- 

 ings. The business of these seed-corn breeders increased 

 by leaps and bounds. Ordinary seed-corn that sold at 

 75 cents per bushel was replaced by improved seed at 

 $2.50 per bushel, while many of the breeders of the im- 

 proved strains cannot now supply the demand at $5 

 to $10 per bushel. The Illinois association developed 

 methods of preserving and improving the established 



