30 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



July 2, 1908. 



seeds used solely as adulterants ,and of 

 low-grade seed containing large percent- 

 ages of weed seeds, and to correct other 

 abuses in the trade, is inevitable. It is 

 in line with the great projects for the 

 betterment of trade conditions and for 

 the conservation of natural resources to 

 which the present administration at 

 Washington has practically committed 

 the American people. If we try to stop 

 this flood of public opinion with our 

 little dam, we shall only find the water 

 flowing over the top of it, and the 

 whole works will go out with much dam- 

 age to ourselves and to others, but if 

 wo work harmoniously with the people 

 at Washington for the improvement of 

 American agriculture, adding our prac- 

 tical business experience to their techni- 

 cal and legal knowledge, and thus se- 

 cure a just and helpful law, which will 

 leally tend toward the planting of bet- 

 ter seeds, we shall have the conscious- 

 ness of having worked for progress 

 rather than against it. 



Uofair G)mpetition. 



There is a feeling on the part of some 

 of our members that we are being dis- 

 criminated against unfairly in the at- 

 tempt to pass any law. When we con- 

 sider the many abuses connected with 

 some other lines of business which the 

 law has never attempted to reach and 

 the high average standard of morality 

 and business uprightness among seeds- 

 men, this view is perhaps a natural 

 one, but I cannot altogether sympathize 

 with it. The fact that the purchaser of 

 seeds has frequently no means of know- 

 ing the real character of the goods he is 

 buying is a temptation to the unscrupu- 

 lous and the dishonest. It permits the 

 growth of mushroom competition, which 

 is an injury to the honest seedsmen as 

 well as to the buyer of the unreliable 

 goods. 



We should welcome the opportunity to 

 place our business on a higher plane, to 

 eliminate dishonest competition and to 

 help to save the soil of our country 

 from the invasion of foreign weeds. We 

 should have enough patriotism to give 

 our hearty support to any measure 

 which is really for the general welfare 

 and which does not work an injustice 

 to individuals. I am of the opinion 

 that our business can soon be adjusted 

 to a moderate and well-considered law, 

 which does not require us to do what is 

 manifestly impracticable, but which will 

 prevent the importation of seeds unfit 

 for seeding purposes, and will also pro- 

 vide for the punishmen*- of deliberate 

 and intentional adulteration of seed. 



Reasons for Opposing Mann Bill. 



The natural conditions attending the 

 production of seeds, the tendency of 

 plants to depart from fixed types, the 

 production of sports, cross-fertilization 

 of seed, the possibility of erroneous in- 

 formation from growers — these should 

 all be carefully considered in making a 

 law holding dealers responsible. The 

 broad principle of equity that a man 

 should be held to account only for his 

 own intentional misdeeds should be 

 made part of any such law. 



I have opposed the original Mann 

 Pure Seed Bill for the following prin- 

 cipal reasons: 



First — It provides heavy fines and 

 prison penalty for oifenses that may, 

 and in practice undoubtedly would oc- 

 cur through errors or omissions of em- 

 ployees in improperly marking and 

 packing or handling seeds; thus making 

 innocent men criminals in the eyes of 



LEONARD SEED CO. 



Grower* and Wbolesalers of Superior Garden Seeds 



BUY TURNIP SEED NOW GET OUR PRICES 



Flower Seeds-Onion Sets 'MrV^lS^i^dolli. st. CHICAGO 



Mention The Review when you write. 



YOU will be satisfied with the products of 



Burpee's "Seeds that Grow" 



Better write to Burpee, Philadelphia, — for new Complete Catalog 



Mention The Review when you write. 



THE EVERETT B. CURK SEED CO; 



BEANS, PEAS, SWEET CORN, ONION, BEET, TURNIP, ETC. 



Mention The Review when you write. .___ 



BflUord, Conn. 

 Kaat Jordan. Mlob. 

 Slater Bay, Wla. 



Waldo Rohnert 



OILROY, CAL. 



Wholesale Seed Grower 



Specialties: Lettuce. Onion. Sweet Peas, Aster, 

 CoBmos. Mi^onette, Verbena, in variety. Oor- 

 respondence solicited. 



Mention The Review when you write. 



the law. This is repugnant to the 

 American spirit of fairness. 



Second — The law does not clearly pro- 

 vide for the exception from its provi- 

 sions of seed while in transit or held 

 in storage for the purpose of cleaning 

 or grading, or while in process of clean- 

 ing or grading or held in storage after 

 cleaning or gradiiig, before being offered 

 for seeding purposes. Such exception is 

 absolutely necessary to avoid complete 

 disorganization of existing methods of 

 distributing and handling field and 

 grass seeds. 



Third — The third provision of Section 

 3, regarding the importation of seed 

 containing dead seed, would absolutely 

 prohibit the importation of many im- 

 portant varieties of vegetable seed, the 

 best obtainable qualities of which in 

 certain years contain over twenty-five 

 per cent of dead seedd, which cannot be 

 removed by any known process of clean- 

 ing; the same fact applies to clover 

 and other field seeds, nearly all grades 

 of which contain naturally more or less 

 dead seeds, the percentage varying with 

 crop and harvest conditions where the 

 seeds are grown. 



Fourth — The fourth provision of Sec- 

 tion 3 would practically prohibit the 

 bulking of various qualities of seeds, 

 for the purpose of making uniform 

 grades, because many merchantable and 

 valuable parcels of seeds contain con- 

 siderable percentages of dead seed and 

 «*eed seed, and no dealer would feel 

 safe under this section, as now worded, 

 in bulking together a number of par- 

 cels of natural seeds, since the addi- 

 tion of a single bag of comparatively 

 low vitality, or containing a compara- 

 tively large percentage of weed seeds, 

 might be construed to be adulteration, 

 even though in the process of cleaning 

 the average quality of the entire bulk- 

 ing of seed had been greatly improved. 

 This paragraph should certainly pro- 

 vide a penalty only for deliberate adul- 

 teration with intent to defraud the 

 buyer. 



Fifth — The bill undertakes to pro- 



When you buy BULBS why not set our^ 



Gold Medal Bulbs? 



They are the BEST 

 that money can buy 



We are always ready to quote you specially 

 on your requirements. Remember that we 

 grow more bulbs than all the other growers 

 in the state put together. Send for price list. 



Address all replies to 



HUBERT BULB CO., Giieral Agints, 



Lowembergh BIdg., Main St., Norfolk, Va. 



Mention The Review when you write. 



S.M.ISBELL&CO. 



JACKSON, MICH. 



Contract Seed Growers 



BEAN, CUCUMBER. TOMATO 



Radish, Pea, Muskmelon 

 Squash, Watermelon, Sweet Com 



Correspondence Solicited 

 ■Write for prices on Surplus Stocks 

 tor Immediate Slilpment 



Mention The Review when you write. 



SEATTLE, WASH. 

 Grow^ers of 



PUGET SOUND UBBAGE SEED 



Mention The Review when you write. 



Iiibit the export of certain grades of 

 seed for which there is a demand 

 abroad, and it is against public policy to 

 restrict such export. Such a restriction 

 would tend to cause the exporter to se- 

 lect only the highest qualities for ex- 

 port and thus retain the lower grades 

 for domestic use. 



Sixth — The natural and inherent con- 

 ditions attending the production and 

 distribution of grass, clover and field 

 seeds are so totally different from those 

 attending the production and distribu- 

 tion of vegetable and flower seeds and 

 bulbs, that I believe that these two 

 classes of trade should be separately 

 provided for in any well-considered leg- 

 islation, either by means of separate 

 laws or separate paragraphs. 



It seems to me that it should be pos- 



