20 COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE AND DAIRYING 
average in recent years of about 13 bushels per acre: as Sir John said to me, ‘the. 
average crop of the United States with her virgin soil” There was a field that had 
been in wheat for over forty years, but not with the same variety of wheat always. 
Sir John said he was sorry he had missed one point in his investigations. I put this 
question to him: ‘You sow the same variety all over the field; here is a plot that will 
give you 36 bushels per acre and here is another plot that will give you 138 bushels per 
acre. Have you tried sowing seed obtained from a badly nourished crop side by side 
under the same conditions with seed from the well nourished crop? He said he had 
not tried that. Then I inquired what difference he thought there would be. He said 
he thought that the influence of that heavy crop—36 bushels per acre—would be felt 
for three crops afterwards as compared with seed obtained from the 13 bushel plot. 
Now that is the opinion of a man—the opinion of, I think, the wisest man I ever met 
on agriculture—to the effect that for three successive crops you would find advantage 
from using seed from a well nourished crop. Every quarter-acre seed plot can be 
specially well cultivated; and then you can get the seed from the larger and more 
vigorous plants; thus you get not only the reinforcement of vigour by the selection of 
the large heads, but also get the seed from extra strong plants for general use on the 
farm. 
ORGANIZATION OF A SEED GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION. 
I would like to state what we propose to do and what we have already done in con- 
nection with this Macdonald seed grain competition. We have about 450 farmers or 
farmers’ children in Canada who have each on hand now, enough seed for about a 
quarter of an acre, obtained by this special selection for three years. A number of 
them have been organized into a seed growers’ association; and provision has been 
made to take in everybody who wants to come in on the same terms. Provision will 
be made for registering seed selected in that way, and having it sold under registration 
numbers for seed purposes as distinguished from seed grown for food or milling pur- 
poses. 
I think the best course I can follow perhaps is to read to the Committee this 
announcement of the Macdonald-Robertson Seed Growers’ Association, which sets out 
very briefly and clearly the objects and methods of the association. 
By Mr. Ross (Ontario): 
Q. How many varieties of wheat were sown by these 450 farmers? 
A. I do not know, but they sowed the common variety grown in the neighbourhood; 
we made no restrictions about that. 
The announcement of the Macdonald-Robertson Seed Growers’ Association is as 
follows :— 
With a view to encouraging further the production and general use of seed of 
superior quality for farm crops, the Honourable the Minister of Agriculture for Can- 
ada has authorized me to announce that the Department of Agriculture will grant 
_ such assistance as may be necessary to enable an association or associations of pro- 
ducers of improved and registered seed to carry on effective work. 
In all kinds of farm crops the yield per acre may be materially increased and the 
quality substantially improved by the use of seed which has been graded up by careful 
growing and systematic, intelligent selection, continued without interruption from 
year to year. 
The qualities known as vigour of growth and productiveness in individual plants, 
are transmitted: through their seeds to the succeeding crops quite as surely as any de- 
sirable characteristics are transmitted to animals from their ancestors. 
All seed for general use should be obtained from varieties of which the quality 
has a relatively good market value, from crops which have attained a high degree of 
productiveness, and from localities where the climatic conditions are not much different 
from those where the seed is to be used. 
