82 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



Febraary, 1921. 



Pure Seed Distribution and the Method 

 Employed in Alberta 



By G. H. Cl'TLER, Professor of Field Husbandry. 

 Universit.v of Alberta. 

 (Read before The Western Canadian Society of Agronomy and published through the courtesy of that Society) 



In its broadest interpretation seed or plant distribu- 

 tion may be regarded as having been one of the most 

 potent instruments in developing the World's .\gri- 

 eulture. Aided by man and other agencies, useful 

 seeds and plants have been carried even to the re- 

 motest corners of the earth. By instinct man in all 

 his nomadic adventures has taken thought of his needs 

 and provided himself with provender aiul the where- 

 withal by which he might ensure it. Our most im- 

 portant food plants — the small grains, gra.sses, legumes 

 and root crops have thus been widely distributed. 



Fortunately for the North American farmer, our 

 Federal governments have taken up seed and plant 

 disitribution in connection with their plant introduc- 

 tion schemes, in a thoroughly inten.sive and business- 

 like manner. From the inception of the Experimental 

 farms system in Canada in 1886, seeds from every 

 clime tliat seemed even to give only tlie remotest 

 ])romise of crop possibilities. Were brought to Canada 

 and tried out on all stations and station farms. Later 

 in 1897 the United States Department of Agriculture 

 organized for the same purpose, so that since those 

 dates the earth's surface has, as it were, lieen combed 

 in .search of plant and seed materials that could render 

 a service to the farmers of America. 



In an endeavor to make the best use of all plants 

 and seeds thus obtained, our experiment stations have 

 developed extensive plant breeding programs for the 

 improvement of crops. All available plant materials 

 are thereby being utilized in making and remaking 

 suitable crops for the great variety of soils and (dimate 

 found in the given territories served liy Ihe stations. 

 Co-existing with, and as an integral part of all jdant 

 breeding programs, is that of seed distribution of im- 

 proved products. 



The writer has introduced the subject in this way 

 in order to emphasize the fact that seed distribution 

 must be an integral pai-t of the machinery of a i)ropcrly 

 organized plant breeding enterprise, if the constituency 

 is to derive therefrom its full share of the l)enefits. A 

 hasty backward glance to the earlier efforts of indivi- 

 duals and institutions further reveals this fact. The 

 two veteran English breeders, Patrick Siieriff and 

 Ilallett at once claim our attention. The latter especially 

 had his system of distribution so highly developed that 

 those who obtained his improved seeds were urged to 

 return regularly for pure stocks in order to keep up 

 the purity and vigor of the resulting crops. 



"Vilmorin of France and Rimpau of Germany did 

 signal service to their respective countries by improv- 

 ing sugar beets and rye respectively and making the 

 resulting improved products available to the crop 

 growers at large. 



Mention is deserving also of the type of work in- 

 stituted by the Swedish Seed Association established 

 at Svalofin April. 1886. The primary aim of this 

 association was "by means of careful breeding to seek 



to produce stock seed of special value and to distribute 

 it throughout the country." This a.ssociation, althougli 

 somew-hat reorganized, is still continuing to operate 

 along much the same line as in the earlier days of its 

 history. 



Seed distribution in America as applied to agricul- 

 tural colleges and experiment statioms, has been in 

 vogue for nearly forty years. To the lasting credit of 

 Prof. C. A. Zavitz, of Guelph, an organization called 

 the Experimental Union was formed in 1886, which 

 had as one of its ob,jects, the testing and multiplying of 

 pure seed produced at the college. So far as we have 

 been able to learn, this is the very earliest attempt of 

 this kind in America to organize farmers into a work- 

 ing force, with the experiment station for purposes of 

 seed testing and multiplication. The station sends out 

 small samples of pure seeds representing new varieties 

 or new hybrids, to the members of the Union, to be 

 tested according to plan, and when these have proven 

 of greater usefulness than the common varieties they 

 are multiplied by the co-operator for his owni use and 

 for wide distribution. 



The Central Experimental Farm at Ottawa has also 

 followed a sj'stem of seed distribution with most grati- 

 fying result.s as is the testimony of farmers. No or- 

 ganization, however, is attempted by the Experimental 

 Farm and very little if any, jurisdiction is exercised 

 over the tests made or the seed resulting. In a like 

 manner nearly eveiw province in the Dominion has 

 developed some form of seetl distribution scheme, thus 

 affording a medium by which improved products, the 

 results of selection or breeding, are extended to the 

 farming constituency. 



A more modern development is what is called the 

 "Crop Improvement Association." This organization 

 in most ca.ses is patterned somewhat after the Ex- 

 perimental Union. Like the Union, it, aims to organize 

 the growers into a definite working force, as a part of 

 tlie station machinery, but it goes one step further and 

 aids in the multiplication and redistribution of pui-e 

 seed in a large way. Thus all seed that the station has 

 for distribution is tested out over a wide range of con- 

 ditions and if suitable, it is rapidly multiplied to find 

 its way into the trade. 



In Alberta there has been an insistent demand from 

 farmers for information as to the most suitable varieties 

 for certain districts as well as for pure seed of the best 

 varieties. To meet this situation, it became necessary 

 to institute some scheme by which information could 

 be had as to what varieties and strains should be re- 

 commended for different parts of the province and by 

 which pure varieties oi-iginated or improved by the 

 Taiiversity, could be produced in (piantity for extensive 

 distribution. Consequenty, to relieve this two-fold 

 need, we have proceeded to form an organization of the 

 Croi> Improvement Association type, known as the 

 Alberta Crop Improvement Association. In organizing 



