7<^e ^>e&t SeecU one 



Let any vegetable or flower go wild for a 

 few years; let it fight for existence and drop 

 seeds to preserve its species, then see what 

 happens. Without human hands to select and 

 save only the useful offspring, such desirable 

 features as good flavor, color, and shape would 

 soon disappear. In their place would come 

 the awkward plant shapes, fibrous leaves and 

 roots, and extreme variation in size that char- 

 acterized the plant's primitive ancestors. 



But, put the same vegetable or flower in 

 the hands of an experienced seed breeder, and 

 watch what happens. He will not only pre- 

 serve its original appearance and performance 

 but will, in all probability, improve them sig- 

 nificantly ! 



That, in a nutshell, is what is being accom- 

 plished at Ferry-Morse year-round, except 

 that nearly 1,200 varieties, not just one, are 

 involved. Our Seed Breeders' first responsi- 

 bility is to keep the quality of our varieties at 

 a high level and to improve it when possible. 

 Secondly, Breeders must be sensitive to the 

 changing needs of home gardeners, market 

 gardeners, canners, and shippers so that new 

 varieties will be ready when called for. 



Trial grounds, where a sample of the harvest 

 from each seed field is planted, are a very nec- 

 essary 7 part of our quality control work. Here 

 our Seed Breeders can compare the actual field 

 performance of new selections and hybrids 

 with that of standard varieties, and with our 

 competitors' varieties. In an average year over 

 31,000 trial rows and breeding cultures are 

 planted, grown and closely noted. Our four 

 trial grounds and seed breeding stations— in 

 California, Florida, Idaho, and Michigan — 

 have an excellent reputation that yearly draws 

 many applications from students in agricul- 

 tural colleges and from foreign countries who 



wish to learn by assisting our seed breeders. 



Other Ferry-Morse specialists handle the 

 work of supervising the thousands of acres of 

 seed fields that are planted with seeds selected 

 from choice parent plants. Several times dur- 

 ing the growing season these fields are in- 

 spected and undesirable (off-type) plants are 

 removed. Since many different soil and cli- 

 matic conditions are needed for the best 

 growth of seed crops, our seed growing oper- 

 ations are conducted in eighteen states. 



After seed crops are harvested and carefully 

 cleaned to remove weed seeds and chaff, the 

 product of each seed field is given a lot number 

 which it retains until it is planted. Thus, we 

 keep such close control of our thousands of lots 

 of seeds that when shown a packet of Ferry's 

 Seeds we can immediately trace where the 

 seeds were grown, their germination, and their 

 field performance rating. 



We help you become, and remain, a good 

 gardener by putting only strong-growing, true 

 to type seeds in packets of Ferry's Seeds. 

 Every packet is stamped with the year in 

 which its use is intended. Two laboratories 

 operated by skilled technicians are required to 

 conduct the more than 30,000 germination 

 tests completed in an average year. Only 

 seeds that meet or better strict Federal stand- 

 ards for germination are put into packets of 

 Ferry's Seeds. 



By selecting your seeds for this year's gar- 

 den from the familiar Ferry's Seeds display, 

 you can plant in confidence that they are the 

 best seeds money can buy. It is easy for you 

 to find a display of Ferry's Seeds in your 

 favorite shopping district. They are every- 

 where; in department, food, variety, hardware 

 and general stores, supermarkets, nurseries, 

 and some florist shops and drug stores. 





