aA Lifetime of Service to Southern ^Agriculture ^ 
Coker’s Pedigreed Seed Company represents the life-work of its founder, our late 
president, Mr. David R. Coker. This organization stands and shall continue to stand as 
a monument to a life dedicated to the cause of southern agriculture. The accomplish¬ 
ments of Coker’s Pedigreed Seed Company are due to the practical knowledge and scien¬ 
tific ideals of its Founder and to the devoted work of the group of trained scientists whom 
he gathered around him and imbued with his own ideals and enthusiasms. 
The story of Mr. Coker’s untiring efforts to raise the status of southern agriculture 
and to improve conditions of the southern farm family, is a familiar one to the people of 
the South. His first experimental tests with cotton began in 1898, the results being pub¬ 
lished by Clemson College. Only one year of practical farming had convinced him of the 
great need of definite information as to best varieties and proper fertilization of cotton, 
and he immediately set out to obtain this needed information. From this time, throughout 
the rest of his life, Mr. Coker’s interest in plant breeding and experimentation continued 
to grow until today his organization is recognized as one of the outstanding commercial 
breeding plants in the country, and his name is known and honored throughout the South 
and the Nation. 
Mr. Coker’s enthusiasm in this work was due in part to his interest in its scientific 
side, but though he was a naturalist and scientist, he was above all, a philanthropist. He 
wished that these benefits might be enjoyed by every farm family in the country, and to 
this end he spent the best efforts of his life. Always studying closely the problems of the 
farmers, he anticipated their needs and sought to have the solution to their problems 
ready even before the demand arose. In all of the extensive breeding operations carried 
on by this organization through the years, the good of the southern farmer has held first 
place in his consideration. In addition to the breeding work in its strictest sense, Mr. 
Coker devoted much time and effort in the endeavor to solve many general farm problems, 
for example, the effect of fodder pulling on the yield and quality of corn, spacing and 
fertilizer experiments with both corn and cotton, and proper seeding rates for small 
grains. Many thousands of dollars and some of the best years of Mr. Coker’s life were 
spent in finding out the cheapest and most effective method of weevil control, a method 
that could be followed by every cotton grower. 
Mr. Coker’s strength lay in his farsightedness and in his singleness of purpose to 
achieve his ends. He was interested in many business enterprises and an important factor 
in many educational and civic organizations, but to the work of Coker’s Pedigreed Seed 
Company he devoted the best of his time and thought. He foresaw the time when he could 
not direct it personally. To this end every member of his organization was trained. So 
that today this work will continue to go on with that same spirit of loyalty and service to 
the farmer, and with the same ideal of progress along scientific and practical lines. 
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