The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-10-06
RESUME AND CONCLUSION OF
THE NATIONAL SEED DISTRI-
BUTTON CONTROVERSY.
Major R~agland's Reply to Prof. Massey.

Major Ragland's Reply to Prof. Massey.
Truth needs no flowers of speech"
For truth appears so naked on our side,
That any purblind eye may find it out
Mr.. Massey's TRADES in denunciatiOn
of the government seed distribution
evidently results from his opinion
formed of the quality of the seeds dis
tributed bv the patent office that once
sent him. as he claims, mullen seeds
for tobacco. We were explicit in our
first paper on the subject in stating
that we offered nothing in defense of
the seeds distributed thrOughthe patent
office. but what we wrote applied only
to seeds sent out from the Seed Division
Of the Department of Agriculture.
Since 1862, when this department was
established, what Mr.. Massey writes
about his meeting agents for Euro
e seed houses, coming for the max
ing of fat contracts with the depart
ment, boasting that they had unloaded
all their old stock at a fine figure, :"
he cannot, hedare not charge upon the
Agricultural Department under It's
present regime, and therefore all such
assertions fail as argument against the
SCCO ACO ADoO4OAAs Co CIV PANOO4AO ~
Quoted.
Nor can Mr.. Massey, as he walks
through the SEED barn of the depart
ment and talks with those in charge in
regard to the business with which he
has been familiar for thirty or forty
years. say of those in charge nO1C,
they are ignOramuses in seed and seed
culture" as he would have his readers
TO believe. He does claim that the
whole seed distribution lis a humbug
and an understandable use Of public
funds" but when he alleges, as he
does, that he knows but little about
the present regime the point at issue
his condemnation is mere bare asser-
ton, founded on prejudice.
Mr.. Massey argues that General LIE
Due condemned in his presence the
seed distribution, and that Mr.. COlman,
while Commissioner of Agriculture,
endeavOred OcOntine it into such chan
nels as he thought more legitimate and
proper, but was forced by the peoples
representatives to continue the distri-
button as it had been conducted.
Against the mere assertions of LIE
Due and COlman we offer the published
opinions of other commissioners of
agriculture in refutation and against
the assertion of Mr.. Massey that the
distribution is u~nwarranted and has
been a useless expenditure Of public
funds. The authorities quoted are
f~irst-class, so far as character, com
potency and reliability are concerned.
WHAT FORMER COMMISSIONERS OF AGRI-
CULTURE THOUGHT AND PUBLISHED ON
DISTRIBUTION OF SEEDS.
The first Commissioner Newton,
1863 says: The dissemination of
sorghum and imph- seed has been
worth millions to the country"
The second Commissioner (Capron,
1869 says: The result of a single
importation of wheat has alone been
worth more than an annual ]apprOpria-
ton for the whole Department. x
If but a tenth of the seeds distributed
is judiciously used, the advantage to
the country may be ten-fOld greater
than the amount appropriated for agri-
culture"
In 1870 Mr.. J. R. Dodge, the able
StatiStician and editor of the Depart
ment Reports at that time, and one of,
if not the best equipped men of this
age, for the work in which he has been
s0long, so hOnorably and so be~neficially
engaged, says: While the cost of
the seed distribution in 1869 was but
half a dollar for each thousand of the
people, there is reliable evidence that
a single specimen of grain in one of the
thirty-seven States has realized in
enhanced production ten times the
amount expended for all seeds sent out
to all the States that year"
The third Commissioner Watts,
1870 says: THE increased prOduc-
ton of wheat, oats and grasses by
reason of the distribution of new and
improved seeds, pays ten times more
than the whole amount expended by
the government in this department
and such is tie appreciation of this by
the farmers Of the country, that the
demands upon us are increasing to a
degree beyond our ability to supply.
MR.. MASSEY'S MAIN WITNESS USED
AGAINST HIM.
Here follows the published opinion
of General LIE Due, fourth Commits
siOner Of Agriculture, 1879 who says
1.-The increased production per acre
by the excelsior white schOners oats
was 2.5 bushels per acre, and a like in
crease Is reported from a distribution
of the board of trade oats in the North
ern and the rust proof in the Southern
part of the country during the past
two years. But the average increased
yield fairly distributed in like period
to improved varieties of seed would
amount to forty million bushels, now
worth SIS, ZOO, 900. Taking the last
three years as compared with the three
previous years, the increase was two
bushels per acre. This in forty millions
acreage yearly would beeighty millions
of bushels increase, or a gain to the
country lat present prices of about
$50, 600, 600 per annum."
We simply ask the re der to COM
pare Gen. LIE Dues published opinion
above with Mr.. Massey's verbal state