The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-10-23

NA4ONNO
meet. These things will continue to
be as long as low-grade seeds, con-
tanning weed seed, are sold and
SOwn.
But there is another side to the
question. Unless the farmer knows
the quality of the seeds he proposes
to SOW, he cannot make a rational
mixture of seeds, so as to give a
definite proposition of the bearing ca
pacity of the land to each species.
He cannot tell which species of a
mixture will furnish the bulk of the
heritage. Yet he cannot afford to
SOW upon land brought at a great ex-
pense to it's maximum point of pro-
ductiveness, seeds of whose quality
he knows nothing, and for whose
quality the seller distinctly repudi-
ates all responsibility.
The following guarantee is printed
in the catalogue of one large English
seed firm, and is substantially the
same as that given by all English
guarantee houses, who have a ''pri-
vate contract with some seed-test-
ing station:
1. "Our seed r sold, guaranteed
pure, clean and Of the percentage of
vitality named in u catalogue.
2. This guarantee is subject to
the analysis of the Botanist Of the
Royal Agricultural Society.
8. IF the result of the analysis
does not confirm the above guaran-
tee, we will take back the seeds and
pay cost of carrying both ways, but
seeds must not be sown before max
ing complaint.
4. The seed once sOwn, our re-
sponsibility ceases. The result de-
ponds upon so many things besides
the quality of the seeds that the
growth cannot be guaranteed"
Contrast the above rational and
civil treatment of customers with
the following disclaimer, which is
printed, with some variations, in the
catalogues of most nOn-guarantee
houses:
1--WE wish to be distinctly under
stood that, although we continue to
take all possible pains to supply only
new, genuine and unadulterated
seeds, yet we still give no warranty,
express or implied, as to description,
quality, productiveness, or any other
matter, of any of the seeds we send
out"
The first public institution for test
ing the quality of commercial seeds
was established in Thorund, Ger
many in 1870. Since then nearly
every country in Europe has one or
more such Establishments to the total
number Of over $50. Anywhere in
Europe a farmer can now buy certi-
fed and guaranteed seeds. This does
not mean that anybody guarantees
the crop. 1t means only that the
seed r certified to possess a stated
degree of purity and that they will
sprOut under stated conditions of
temperature, moisture and light a
stated per cent. of seeds. In the
United States so far, despite our
much boosted progress, no scotsman
offers seeds of guaranteed quality.
To remedy the abuses in the seed
trade and enable purchasers to secure
some assurance that they were get
ting what they pay for. The Amer
lean Association Of Agricultural Elk
pertinent Stations adopted in 1897 an
official, botanical method of deter
mining the quality Of field and gar
Gen seeds. In this method the fac
tors controlling termination are I'M
der strict control, yet approximate
to the conditions Of nature under
the most favorable circumstances.
The test may, therefore, be duplica-
ted as often as required, and if the
sample is of uniform quality the
result of the different tests should
be within named limits identical.
There is no eaSOn at all why seeds.
men should not test their seeds by
the official method and guarantee
them subject to v~erifcation by the
same method in competent hands.
But seedsmen are in the business
for the money they can make. They
prefer the time-hOnored, happy-go-
lucky method of selling. They pre-
fer a jug with one handle and that
handle in their own hand.
At the meeting Of Southern Com