//. G. fJastings & Co., Seedsmen, Atlanta, Georgia. 
3 
Th eir Great 
The plant breeding and testing of varieties of cotton, corn, etc., on 
the Hastings’ Farms is of great value to you. It is the place where every 
variety we can get hold of gets a fair, square chance to show whether it 
is worthy of being offered for sale or not to our customers. If you see 
any variety offered by us yon can be sure that it has merit and is superior 
to others not on the list. No one In the South, not even the State Experi¬ 
ment Stations with the government money to do it with, carries on such 
extensive and conclusive tests as we do. It costs us a good many thou- 
sand dollars each year to carry on this work and every dollar of it is spent 
so that we can know at all times the value of everything we sell to you. 
On page 1 we said that you had the right to know exactly what your seeds¬ 
man or dealer was selling; that you had a perfect right to demand that he 
“show you” what he was doing to improve or keep up to standard the 
seeds he offers to sell. 
We have very different ideas about how the seed business ought to be 
conducted than our brother seedsmen and no one has convinced us yet 
that we are not right in spending a great deal of money and making 
every effort possible through testing and constant inspection to see that 
Value to You 
our seeds are brought up to a higher standard every year. When we got 
right down to facts as shown in our tests we had to change a great many 
things that we thought were all right before. We have found out by actual 
experience that the only way to know what we and every other seedsman 
ought to know is to make these tests and keep going over them constantly, 
taking notes. In cotton the most careful records are kept on each va¬ 
riety. Our books show the number of pounds of seed cotton per acre, 
amount of lint per acre, open bolls to the stalk at several dates, percent¬ 
age of diseased bolls, number of bolls per pound, percentage of lint, and 
total number of bolls to the stalk. During the growing season, long be¬ 
fore the bolls form, constant watch is kept of each variety and Its action 
under drought, or cold or excessive rain is carefully noted. After this is 
done for two or three years we begin to get a pretty fair idea of what a 
variety of cotton actually is and will do in growth and fruiting. We are 
also able In this way to keep “tab” on the old varieties that are constantly 
being put out under a new name such as “So and So’s Re-Improved Extra 
Big Boll Cotton.” or some other name. As a matter of fact there Is not 
over a dozen clear distinct varieties of cotton and our test grounds show 
it UP every time. 
A SMALL SBCTION OF THE COTTON VARIETT TESTS ON THE HASTINGS FARM 
This ‘‘keeping books” on each variety of cotton is a big job and an l 
expensive one, but we feel well repaid, as it keeps us from making mis- | 
takes as to recommending varieties to you. These test grounds of ours i 
bring every variety right up to the mark and make it show exactly 
what It will do in comparison with others. We are always glad to try out 
every variety we can get hold of, for we are trying to make complete rec¬ 
ords on every known variety of cotton. We get knowledge from our test 
grounds. Based on that exact information we can advise you as to varie¬ 
ties and know what we are talking about. There is no other seed house 
with such information, and no farmer can or does conduct any such tests. 
H. G. Hastings & Co. stand absolutely alone in this class of work. 
We sell no seed from these test grounds except to the oil mill. As you 
will notice, these varieties are grown close together and there is always 
more or less “crossing” by bees aud insects of various kinds. As stated 
before these test grounds are for Information only, and no seed house can 
carry on its work right without such information. We believe that in a 
lew years the low grade, ‘‘cut price” seedsmen and dealers will be put out 
of business for lack of customers. Every year we find more planters de¬ 
manding and willing to pay for higher grade, more productive seed of all 
kinds. Our test work enables us to find out all the weak points as well as 
the strong ones of each variety, and no variety can get a place in our cata¬ 
logue unless it has real value. 
Right here we want to talk about one point. We find a great manv 
people buy well bred seed of us and expect it to make the biggest kinds 
of crops without their doing their part in the way of proper cultivation 
and fertilizing. It won’t do you a bit of good to pay 8250.0U for a first-class 
mule and then expect him to do full work on half feed. If you half way 
starve him he won’t be much better so far as work is concerned than an 
old worn out “plug.” While it’s true that our seed, or any well selected 
and grown seed, will make more cotton under poor cultivation than ordi- 
nary seed, you won’t be able to get in the bale or more per acre class un¬ 
less you cultivate and feed your crop right. Extra crops take extra plant 
food from the soil, and plants need good cultivation to keep them work¬ 
ing full time all season. 
