Fruits, Vegetables and General Interests. 



3i 



Sweet-corn . . . . 1 5, 004 

 Cucumber .... 10,219 

 Muskmelon ... 5,149 



Tomato 4>356 



Watermelon. . . 3,978 

 Asparagus .... 1,437 



919 

 662 



A special enumeration of the seed-farms of the United 

 States has been made by J. H. Hale under the auspices of 

 the census bureau (Bull, 111, Sept. 4, 1891). Starting with 

 the establishment of Landreth's seed-farm at Philadelphia in 

 1784, the industry has enlarged to 596 farms with a total of 

 169,851 acres devoted exclusively to the business. The acre- 

 age of the different seed-crops is as follows : 



Field-corn 16,322 acres. 



Bean 12,905 " 



Pea 7.97i " 



Squash 4,663 " 



Potato 4, 102 ' ' 



Onion 3,560 



Cabbage . : . . . 1,268 " 



Turnip 885 



Carrot 569 



Parsnip 374 ' ' 



Onion sets 352 " 



Spinach 150 " 



Pumpkin 105 " 



Parsley 75 



Dandelion 39^ " 



Rhubarb 25 " 



Endive 16 " 



Collards 13 " 



Cauliflower. ... 11 " 



Corn-salad.... i}4 " 



Celeriac }4 " 



More than one-half the farms were established since 1870, 

 and this is an indication that the business, as a whole, is pros- 

 pering. ' ' So far as reported, there were but two seed-farms in 

 the country previous to 1800 (one of these was established in 

 Philadelphia in 1784, and the other at Enfield, New Hamp- 

 shire, in 1795), only 3 in 1820, 6 in 1830, 19 in 1840, 34 in 

 1850, 53 in i860, 100 in 1870, 207 in 1880, and 200 more were 

 established between 1880 and 1890, leaving 189 unaccounted 

 for as to date of establishment. But as the proprietors of the 

 older seed-farms take great pride in this matter, it is safe to 

 assume that 90 per cent, of the unreported farms have come 

 into existence within the last 20 years." " Of the 596 seed- 

 farms in the United States, 258, or nearly one-half, are in the 

 North Atlantic division, the original center of seed produc- 

 tion. These farms have an acreage of 47,813, or an average 

 of 185 acres per farm, while in the North Central division 



Beet. 

 Radish . 



Lettuce 486^ 



Pepper 365 



Egg-plant .... 252 



Kale 105 



81 



7i 

 26 



19 

 13 J* 

 13 



Flower-seeds , 



Celery 



Salsify .... 

 Kohlrabi . . . 



Leek 



Okra 



Nasturtium 

 Cress 



Seed 

 statistics. 



