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//. G. Hastings & Co., Seedsmen, Atlanta. Georgia. 
Our 1910 annual catalogue contained the first public announcement of the establishing of our seed and plant breed¬ 
ing department, the greatest movement for better seed of staple Southern crops, especially cotton, that has ever been 
made. It is the first and only time in the history of the seed trade of the world that any firm of seedsmen has ever 
established a department of scientific seed and plant breeding for the origination and development of new and better 
varieties; for the purpose of bringing up and keeping up seed to the highest possible standard of perfection. 
In the past some work along this line has been don-i by the United States Department of Agriculture and some of 
the various State Institutions but when a certain stage of development had been reached, the seed was turned over to 
the public and the results of the work soon lost in the deterioration or “running out” that always takes place unless 
the breeding up is constantly kept up every year. Our Seed Breeding Department is now doing this work and doing 
it right. We, and those engaged in this work, look on it as a life work and every resource that we can bring to bear 
on it from both scientific and practical standpoints is being used in this greatest work ever undertaken for the benefit 
of Southern agriculture. This work is under the direct charge of Mr. D. S. Starr, a graduate of the State College of 
Agriculture of Georgia, a man who has made a special study of cotton and seed breeding. Other scientific men of the 
highest personal and scientific standing in this country also act in an advisory capacity in this special work. 
We are more than pleased with the results of the work of this department. The illustrations shown on many of 
the pages of this catalogue are reproduced from photographs taken on the grounds where this test and breeding 
is going on. We have been surprised to see how great results can be obtained in a short time where right methods 
are used. We realize more fully now than we ever did before the absolute necessity of having work of this kind the 
hands of scientifically trained men who can and do devote their entire time to it. This kind of work has to be handled 
practically regardless of expense so far as any immediate money return is concerned. We are glad to spend money 
this way for we know that the result of this seed breeding work, passed out to the public in the shape of better bred, 
more productive seed means a greater prosperity to those that plant such seed and in the end will bring the South 
where it should be, an unquestioned leader in agriculture. 
The first 29 pages of this catalogue are devoted largely to the work on the Hastings’ Farrns, cotton and corn. The 
descriptions and statements made as to the different varieties are based on what these varieties do on these seed 
breeding and seed growing farms of ours. They are based on experience. These pages telling of this work ought to 
interest as well as prove valuable to you in your work. 
WE NEED YOUR CO-OPERATION IN THIS 
We have no money for carrying on this work except as it comes from our business. We have no United States or 
State appropriations of money raised by taxation from the people. We are doing this strictly with our own money. 
Every one doing business with us gets the benefit of our work and at the same time helps us to continue it. All we 
ask of the people of the South is their Co-operation. We are spending money to produce something better for them 
than they have ever had before. All we ask of them is that they take advantage and use the results of our work, not 
specially for our benefit, but more so for their own. 
Personal friends of ours who knew of our carrying on this work have asked us “where and when do you expect to 
get all the money back you are putting into this.” We can’t answer them now. We don’t know. Possibly never but if 
we don’t there is one thing we do know and that is that we are doing a work for the benefit of the farmers of the South 
that ought to be done, a work that will more than double the agricultural production and make this the wealthiest and 
most prosperous section of this country. When we do this we will not have lived in vain even if we don’t pile up 
dollars. Our business is more to us than a matter of money-making. If we can’t do the people of the South good 
through our business connection with them we have no business to be in business. 
We ask you to co-operate with us in this work. You can do this easily. You buy some seeds from somebody any 
how. Why not from us? Every order for seed, no matter how small, helps us along in business building and abiiity to 
spend money along the line of seed and variety improvement. We are spending now some ten thousand dollars a 
year in this work for better, more profitable, more productive seeds of ali kinds. If our business was twice as large we 
would be pleased to spend as much more. Our ability to extend this work to its fuilest extent depends on the active 
co-operation of seed buyers with us. . * .j -r. _ *u- 
We know that we have taken up and are doing one of the greatest works that has ever been attempted. To us th 
seed business is not a mere matter of seed selling, it has three distinct parts. First, this “Seed Breeding” work as 
outlined above, a strictly scientific branch of our work which includes hybridizing, selection, the study of the individual 
plants, microscopic studies of the seed and lint and putting the lint to all the known commercial tests; and the origlna- 
tion of new varieties that are disease resistant or to meet the changing conditions brought about by the spread of the 
boll weevil. Second, taking the results of the work of the Breeding Department and growing the seed for commercial 
distribution, this requiring several thousands of acres under cultivation. Third, the comparatively simple matter of 
selling the product. It is the general custom of most seed houses to simply buy the product from growers and sell 
them again just as your merchant sells flour or meal to you, really a merchandizing proposition. By this, you can see 
where the difference is between our seed business and that of other houses. This is why we ask your active co-opera¬ 
tion when it comes to seed-buying. We believe that the work of our “Seed Breeding Department” and the constantly 
higher quality of seed being grown by us as a result of the work of this department entities us to your seed orders this 
year. 
