^^^r^";,'T'."'» ;'';,'VTP.W'--"**',~*^"'^" 



T?fPrt^' 



1266 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



XOVRMBEH 10, 1904. 



Threshing and Curinf^ Onion Seed at J. M. Kimberlin & Co/s, Santa Clara, CaL 



Seed Trade News. 



AMCRiaN SEED TRAOC ASSOCUTHW. 



Pres.. C. N. Pa^e, Des Moines. la : First Vloe- 

 Pres.. L. L. May. St. Paul: Secy and Treas . C. E. 

 Kendel, Cleveland. The Xjrd annual meeting 

 will be held on the St. Lawrence, June, 1905. 



A TOUR AMONG CALIFORNIA 

 SEED GROWERS. 



No seedsman who visits Santa Clara 

 will fail to enjoy meeting Charles Par- 

 ker. He is a grower of the old school. 

 His operations cover a considerable acre- 

 age of Santa Clara, as well as '<up the 

 river." In company with him, inspect- 

 ing crop; was a profitable experience at 

 both places, especially so at Santa Clara, 

 where he had onion bulbs growing that 

 were to he set out for the next year's 

 seed crop. The onions were being grown 

 from seed furnished by him and the pro- 

 duct of the seed was to be delivered to 

 him at a stated time. They were being 

 grown under contract, the 'contract giv- 

 ing him the power to discard any that 

 were not of the right tyne at harvest 

 time, as well as to supervise the caring 

 for them <luring growth. Land esjwcially 

 adapted to the growth of onions is select- 

 ed and as a rule a good crop of bulbs is 

 the result. This same method is pursueil 

 by the rest of the growers to a greater 

 or less extent. Mr. Parker's plantings, 

 however, l)oing the only onions that we 

 had the advantage of inspecting in an 

 intelligent way for type on this particu- 

 lar trip, it is due him that a note be 

 made of it. As a grower of lettuce, 

 radish, spinach, beet and sweet peas Mr. 

 Parker is known to be reliable and his 

 experience covers a good number of years 

 at Santa Clara. Tt may seem super- 

 fluous to state, and it does not belong 

 here any more than in any other part 

 of this article, but it is a fact, which 

 applies to California, or any^vhere else 

 where seed is grown, that the greatest 

 care in selecting the bulb or the plant, 

 and the largest knowledge in the proper 

 methods of planting, growing or har- 

 vesting, may be set at naught by loose 



methods in tagging the lots before and 

 after the threshing, and in making a 

 bulk of two or nuirc lots of the same 

 variety. 



F. A. Wilcox is another Santa Clara 

 grower who had some good fields to show, 

 onion, lettuce, radish, etc. He also op- 

 erates "up the river" in the vicinity of 

 the fields of Chas. Parker. The inter- 

 ests of the two seem to be more or less 

 combined, although each works inde- 

 pendently. 



In this connection the Braslan Seed 

 Growers' Co., which has a large interest 

 in seed growing at Santa ('lara and 

 vicinity, as well as elsewhere, should be 

 mentioned. The head of this company 

 is well known to the seed trade, both in 

 this country and abroad. Chas. P. Bras- 

 lan has probably had as varied an ex- 

 perience in all lines of the seed business, 

 for his years, as any man in it. With 

 headquarters, as before mentioned, at 

 San Jose, the Braslan Seed Gro-A-ers' 

 Co., operating in conjunction with ex- 

 perienced growers at Santa Clara, or 

 wherever mutual interests will warrant, 

 has quite an extensive acreage to draw 

 from to supply the seed needed by its 

 customers. It is a well conducted orga- 

 nization, up to date in its business meth- 

 ods with a resourceful, keen and hustling 

 manager. Some up-hill work has been 

 done by this company of growers, and its 

 advancement has had the usual bumps ; 

 nevertheless it reports progress from 

 time to time and seems well able to take 

 care of the interests of its customers and 

 itself. 



Not far from Santa Clara is Agnew 

 Station, where the Agnew interests are 

 located. Sugar beet seed took up a part 

 of the home ranch, with onion, lettuce, 

 etc. "Up the river," this firm also had 

 plantings that were well looked after and 

 gave promise of good returns. 



At Mountain View where was formerly 

 a Miss Gallimore, who had quite a seed 

 ranch, but her place was not found on 

 this trip. It was explained that fruit 

 growing had taken the place of seed 

 growing in that immediate vicinity. 



Next week we will pursue our journey 

 north, stopping first at Palo Alto. 



There is a lull at present in the onion 

 set market. 



The present fine weather suits the 

 sweet corn growers. 



Leonard Seed Co., Chicago, will in- 

 troduce a new potato the coming spring. 



From all reports sweet corn and cu- 

 cumber seed will be normal crops this 

 year. 



Most of the California deliveries ou 

 the contract basis are being shipped 

 in full. 



While there are plenty of Harrisii, 

 longiflorums give every evidence of 

 being good property. 



Beans thus far received at the clean- 

 ing warehouses are of good quality and 

 the color of sample bright. 



There seems to be no great scarcity 

 of anything in what is termed small gar- 

 <len seeds except American-grown egg 

 plant. 



There has been a good deal of riv- 

 alry among seed sellers in the onion 

 marsh districts lately. All seem to be 

 anxious to sell onion seed for present or 

 future delivery. 



W. W. Johnson & Son, BostoTi, Eng- 

 land, have five novelties for next season, 

 a betiding nasturtium called Daylight, a 

 I" PP.v, a sweet pea, the Pearl potato and 

 a round early pea called Diamond. 



We learn that the Koyal Dutch Bulb- 

 Growers' Society, at Haarlem, Holland, 

 intends to hold its quinquennial exhibi- 

 tion of bullwus flowers from March 17 

 to 21, 190.5. The schedule which has 

 l)een published shows that a large num- 

 ber of prizes are being offered. It is 

 the intention to make this show the most 

 interesting ever held. Interested parties 

 can have further particulars on appli- 

 cation to the secretary of the society, 

 Jos. de Brent, at Haarlem, Holland. 



Lebanon, N. H.-— The Haskell Floral 

 Co. has just put up a greenhouse 30x130 

 and will at once install a new sixty 

 horse-power boiler beside the others. 



