40 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



June 24, 1909. 



clover seed. The writer endorses the 

 federal bill proposed by Mr. Green. 



"Note the variance in results of tests 

 by various state experiment stations and 

 the U. 8. Department of Agriculture. 

 Until the methods are uniform the re- 

 sults will continue to vary. The writer 

 urges the American Seed Trade Asso- 

 ciation to pursue experimental testing 

 and compare results obtained by Edgar 

 Brown, of the U. S. Department of Ag- 

 riculture in checking up tests by various 

 stations, etc. Laws cannot be effective 

 until uniform testing methods prevail," 



Favor Irrigation Experiments. 



Capt. Burnett Landreth, of Bristol, 

 Pa., read a paper on application of ir- 

 rigation to old eastern farms, and pre- 

 sented some of the diflSculties that might 

 confront the establishment of such at 

 first, because of riparian rights of 

 farmers who would object to the water 

 from any small stream being diverted 

 by farmers above who might undertake 

 to irrigate their own farms; therefore 

 farmers in the east will be dependent 

 for such irrigation upon wells driven on 

 their own farms unless they reside upon 

 the banks of large rivers from which 

 they can draw water without objection. 

 Whether from wells or rivers, the water 

 would have to be pumped, which is expen- 

 sive as compared with obtaining water 

 by natural gravity as practiced in the 

 west. As experiments to find the best 

 way to surmount the diflSculties would 

 be expensive to individual farmers, Capt. 

 Landreth suggested the establishment of 

 an irrigating experimental station on the 

 Potomac river near Washington, where 

 all machinery may be assembled and il- 

 lustrated and the problem worked out to 

 a satisfactory solution, how best and 

 most cheaply to raise the water from the 

 surface of the Potomac, which is consid- 

 erably below the level of the farm lands; 

 how to carry it back to reservoirs, from 

 whence it can be distributed tinder the 

 most improved processes, etc. -Mr. Lan- 

 dreth believed that manufacturers of irri- 

 gating machinery would be glad to loan 

 the government machinery for such a 

 practical demonstration of the possibili- 

 ties of irrigation as so applied in the 

 east, and he believed that the government 

 could accomplish a great work for the 

 country in this way. 



Capt. Landreth presented the follow- 

 ing resolution, which was adopted unani- 

 mously: 



'•While the American Seed Trade Asso- 

 ciation heartily approves of the promo- 

 tion by the United States government of 

 irrigation practices in the new west, the 

 association is as firmly impressed with 

 the belief that there is pressing room for 

 some federal promotion of irrigation 

 practices in the old east; consequently 

 I move that there be appointed a com- 

 mittee of three to urge upon the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture of the United States, 

 and the agricultural committees of the 

 Senate and House, such congressional 

 legislation as will establish a national 

 irrigation station near the city of Wash- 

 ington, where may be assembled pumps, 

 irrigating machinery and all appliances 

 so that working processes may be shown 

 as adapted to eastern conditions." 



At a later session President Woodruff 

 appointed thg^ollowing committee to act 

 under the Landreth resolution: H. W. 

 Wood, Eichmond, Va. ; Albert McCul- 

 lough, Cincinnati; J. M. Lupton, Matti- 

 tuek, L. I., N. Y. 



' The convention adjourned until 

 Wednesday morning, the evening being 



occupied with sbci^r pleasures, concert 

 and dance at the "Clifton Hotel. 



Root Crops. 



Prof. C. A. Seavitz, of the Ontario 

 Agricultural College, Guelph, Ont., de- 

 livered a paper, "Root Crops," which 

 was interesting and well received. It 

 contained the results of careful tests con- 

 ducted by the Agricultural College at 

 Guelph, showing comparisons between the 

 production of seeds of mangels, Swede 

 turnips and carrots, home grown as com- 

 pared with imported s^eds.of the same 

 class. On the wholei^hOflie grown seed 

 has proved higher in gM-iiunation and 

 more productive of roots than the im- 

 ported. A large amotmt of work has 

 been done to determine the influence of 

 different selections of seeds upon the re- 

 sulting crop. Ninety-four distinct ex- 

 periments were conducted with large, 

 medium-sized and small-sized seeds. In 

 eighty-five per cent of the separate tests 

 the larger seeds produced more heavily 

 than the smaller. In a series of experi- 

 ments in planting root seeds at different 

 depths in the soil, through a series of 

 years, on land of lower and higher levels, 

 average clay loam soil, five years with 

 mangels and sugar beets, four years with 

 Swede turnips and carrots, average re- 

 sults showed best results at half an inch 

 below the surface. Five years' experi- 

 ments in thinning roots at different dis- 

 tances apart in the rows showed that as 

 the distance increased the average size of 

 the root increased in crop, with a de- 

 crease in the percentage of dry matter 

 and also in yield of roots per acre. In 

 five years' experiments in sowing sugar 

 beets in rows at different distances apart, 

 by having rows closer together, furnished 

 larger yield of roots and larger yield of 

 sugar per acre. In thinning sugar beets 

 at different stages of growth in each of 

 five years the greatest average yield per 

 acre was obtained when thinning the 

 plants when about two inches in height. 



Government's Aims. 



Edgar Brown, botanist in charge of 

 the seed laboratory of the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Washington, 

 D. C, gave a short address, explaining 

 something of the work the department is 

 doing = in investigating the purity and 

 quality of seeds, etc. He said that he 

 realized that a large amount of poor 

 seed is sold every year and that the rea- 

 son that so low a quality is sold is be- 

 cause the farmer very largely wants some- 

 thing that he can get cheaply. He does 

 not want to pay the price for good seed. 

 The department wishes to show him his 

 mistake by making it possible for him 

 to know what he is getting. The result 

 of the work being done will be to in- 

 crease the market prices for good seed. 

 That the general average of increase in 

 quality is progressing has been shown 

 during the last year, the samples being 

 taken by the department indiscriminately 

 showing a marked improvement, with 

 greater care being exercised by the seeds- 

 men in the examination of stock they are 

 buying and selling. He said that many 

 are availing themselves of the opportu- 

 nity to visit the testing laboratory dur- 

 ing the summer and extended an invita- 

 tion to all whom they might be able to 

 accommodate to visit same about July 

 13 and for six to eight weeks thereafter. 



The address was well received and the 

 apparently perfectly fair attitude of the 

 speaker was commented on favorably. He 

 was, however, subjected to a rapid fire 

 of cross questions as to the methods of 



testing used; and as to the reasons why 

 there have been so many state laws in- 

 troduced of so heterogeneous a. character 

 during a comparatively recent period. 

 The speaker parried or answered all ques- 

 tions skilfully and contended! that the 

 department had not instigated any legis- 

 lation, while they were certainly not in 

 a position to control the same and prop- 

 erly direct it. Messrs. C. F. Wood, F. C. 

 Woodruff, S. A. Wilson, Chas. Dickin- 

 son, Albert McCuUough, J. L.i Peppard, 

 F. H. Ebeling, J. C. Vaugh^n, E. F. 

 Dibble and G. S. Green took phrt in the 

 discussion. Mr. Vaughan raise|d a laugh 

 by asking whether the inspectors testing 

 would he willing to submit to! the same 

 kind grTa penalty provided tjiey made 

 mistakes in testing that the laws of some 

 states have sought to impose on seeds- 

 men for errors in cleaning, jetc. The 

 speaker said that he was not que of the 

 committee of the Association 1 of State 

 Seed Analysts that. is now ilivestigating 

 the subject and he was glad that there 

 was evident a disposition on the part of 

 the A. S. T. A. and the Analysts' asso- 

 ciation to cooperate towards giteater uni- 

 formity of tests, etc. j 



Prof. Bailey Talks. ' 



At the Wednesday afternoon session, 

 an address vfas delivered by Prof. L. H. 

 Bailey, on "A Campaign for Kural 

 Progress. ' ' He said that as there is a 

 city phase of our civilization, ao there is 

 a country or rural phase, and it is as 

 necessary that we should develop the one 

 as the other, but we have heretoforO 

 given our attention chiefly to the city 

 phase. More attention should be directed 

 to the needs and development of country 

 life. Our attention to the rural question 

 has been largely on the side of making 

 farms more profitable, but while agri- 

 culture for profit is a phase of country 

 life not to be despised, it is not all of a 

 country life. The country people must 

 live their own lives along broad lines as 

 well as city people do theirs. They must 

 have their institutions, their recreations 

 and their outlook on life. All these will 

 contribute directly to the national life 

 and welfare, to the welfare of the city 

 people as well as of the country people 

 themselves. Therefore it becomes a ques- 

 tion of broad public policy for everyone 

 to interest himself in these problems. We 

 must bring the intelligence of all the 

 people to bear on these great rural ques- 

 tions, in order that we may develop the 

 rural civilization which will permanently 

 satisfy the man of ideals and which will 

 be a worthy contribution to the civiliza- 

 tion of our time. 



The foregoing brief resume of the 

 more salient and main conclusions does 

 not do justice to the breadth of view and 

 comprehensive character of the address. 

 A vote of thanks was returned to Prof. 

 Bailey, on motion of Mr. Crossland. 



A paper by J. M. Lupton, of Matti- 

 tuck, L. I., N. Y., on "The Deteriora- 

 tion of Types in Cabbages," closed the 

 afternoon's proceedings. 



G>lor Photography. 



At the banquet Wednesday evening, 

 five-minute talks were given by Henry 

 W. Wood, J. C. Eobinson, E. L. Page, 

 Geo. S. Green, Kirby White, Chas. Dick- 

 inson, S. E. Briggs, F. C. Woodruff, C. 

 F. Wood, J. C. Vaughan, Arthur B. 

 Clark, Curtis Nye Smith, Harry L. 

 Holmes and Chas. N. Page, followed by 

 an interesting lecture on color photog- 

 raphy, illustrated with views from nature, 

 by J. Horace McFarland, Harrisburg, 



I 



