Growing Seeds for the World 
ADOLPH KRUHM,?rt 
AMERICA’S INCREASING DOMINANCE AS A SOURCE OF PRO- 
DUCTION— THE BEGINNINGS AND DEVELOPMENTS 
OF A MODERN INDUSTRY 
[Editor’s Note. — Slowly, but none the less surely, America is becoming the re- 
cognized centre of the world’s seed growitig industry. This fact represents the third 
great truth that has forced itself upon the average garden lover — who, in general, has 
given but little thought to the source of this important adjunct to his activities. Ilis 
first discovery was that except in a very few cases retail seedsmen do not grow the 
seeds they sell. Secondly there dawned the realization that European growers supplied 
the bulk of the world’s seeds. This, until recently, was true. To-day, however, the 
focus, has shifted to the western hemisphere and America is dominating the seed trade. 
It is, therefore, an especially fitting time to look back over the development of this 
industry in order to appreciate the true significance of present conditions and oppor- 
Christian Reichart, who was the tunities. The following article is the first published account of the history of seed- 
fast seed merchant. 1685 growing; it IS the result of the first systematic attempt to trace the interesting, even 
romantic progress of mankind in a little-known field.] 
David Landreth, the first American 
seed merchant. 1784 
The author acknowledges his thankfulness for material assistance in the supplying of data and essential facts by Capt. Barnet Landreth, 
Messrs. Lester Morse, D. V. Burrell, A. Routzahn, and F. \V. Bruggerhof. 
W HEN, early in the eighth century. 
Pope Gregory II sent St. Boniface 
with an army of diligent English 
monks, to convert the heathen low- 
lands of Germania, the seed business began. 
From then until very recently, Europe in 
general, and Germany in particular, has 
produced the masters of the seed-growing 
craft. 
At the time of this religious invasion, the 
bretherens of the various religious orders were 
required to take active part in the practice 
and teaching of gardening, and in return were 
exempted from taxation and certain restric- 
tions imposed upon the rest of the civilian 
population. As early as 1133 the Archbishop 
of Mainz released eleven gardeners at Erpes- 
furth (ancient Erfurt) from the duty of cul- 
tivating the fields at large, in order that they 
might more intensively cultivate their gar- 
dens. But as special privileges often carry 
special obligations, we find these early “gar- 
deners” required to hold markets regularly 
once a week at which to dispose of their sur- 
plus vegetables and seeds. Here, then, is the 
genesis of the seed ^ 
industry. 
DAWN OF A NEW ERA 
Several hundred 
years later (in 1685) a 
genius was born at 
Erf u r t — Christian 
Reichart. Inheriting 
large acreages of fer- 
tile land devoted to 
gardening and seed 
production, he applied 
himself to the sys- 
tematizing of seed 
growing and seed se- 
lection, thus raising 
the production of 
seed from the low 
level of a by-product 
phase of truck gar- 
dening to thf posi- 
tion of a separate, 
concentrated effort. Under his direction, the 
gardeners around Erfurt began to take the 
idea of seed exports seriously. 
I he first German floral novelties of any 
consequence were len W eeks’ Stocks, a flower 
of great favor in those days. By 1760, the 
Erfurt seed firm of Jacob Platz had evolved 
twelve distinct varieties, the seeds of many 
of which were exported generally, as they 
have been up to tbe present time. The Ger- 
mans concentrated in the production of flower 
seeds from the start and still maintain the lead. 
About the same time, we find, certain in- 
dividuals in England and France had also 
come to the conclusion that seeds deserved 
to be put above the level of common barter. 
To-day, the grandsons and great grandsons 
of these far-seeing men are highly honored 
of their respective nations. W'ith a prac- 
ticality of purpose born of century-old experi- 
ence in trading, the early English seedsmen 
picked out, as specialties for their concentrated 
efforts, staple vegetables, such as turnips, 
rutabagas, cabbage, peas, etc., and popular, 
easily grown flowers, such as Sweet Peas, 
Wallflowers and Larkspurs. English peas 
soon ruled the world; the names of WYench, 
Cooper, and Hurst, etc., even becoming syn- 
onymous with superlative qualities in peas. 
About 1740 the firm of Minier & Co., 
opened a store in the Strand, London, and 
dealt in seeds. The successors to this firm 
are to-day the largest growers of seeds of such 
vegetables as turnips and rutabagas. Tbe 
extent of the present production in England 
is almost unbelievable. More than 10,000 acres 
are devoted annually to it. As an average 
yield of seeds per acre amounts to 1,200 pounds, 
the estimated crop of 12,000,000 pounds (or 
6,000 tons) of turnip seed is enough to sow 
10,000,000 acres! 
1 he early French seed growers, catering to 
the tastes of the country, concentrated upon 
1()4 
refined quality in table vegetables — Brussels 
sprouts, celery, eggplant, herbs, peppers, etc., 
although the more popular and more practical 
types are not neglected by French seed growers 
of the present. Thus in the case of sugar 
beets, if Germany takes the credit for getting 
the most out of the sugar beet, to France goes 
the credit of putting the most into it. It is 
to the long persistent efforts of Vilmorin- 
Andrieux & Cie, working for more than a 
hundred years along definite lines of selection 
toward an ideal, that the world owes its 
present day supply of beet sugar. As the 
result we now have varieties and strains con- 
taining as high as 19 per cent, sugar, as com- 
pared with a normal content of only 7 per 
cent. 
Not until early in the nineteenth century 
did Holland enter into the field of commercial 
seed production on a large scale, although as 
far back as 1547 tbe Dutch grew vegetables 
of such quality that Henry VHI and Queen 
Catharine of England sent ships to import the 
product; and up to the year 1700 such garden 
seeds as were used in England were bought 
from Holland. 1 he 
production of high- 
grade seeds of both 
vegetables and flow- 
ers soon attained im- 
mense proportions. 
Just before the pre- 
sent war, one seed 
grower in Holland 
was able to fill orders 
for twenty tons of one 
kind of Tropaeolum 
seed! Holland’s an- 
nual seed contribu- 
tion of this favorite 
flower amounts to 
more than 100 tons, 
or since one ounce 
will sow a 15-foot 
row, enough to sow a 
straight row 10,000,- 
000 feet or, roughly, 
1,890 miles long — say 
from New 'Vork to Kansas City and five hun- 
dred miles beyond! 
SEEDS IN THE NEW WORLD 
History repeats itself; the business of .seed 
growing going to the country having the most 
fertile available sites and soils. The Pilgrims 
brought with them to the new world such 
seeds as were needed to raise the necessities 
