The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1905-11-09
SEED FARMS.
There Are More Than 600 In the United
States Devoted to Garden and Flower
Sand0
New York SUM

tNS" IOih cuH.I
There are at the present time more
| than 600 seed farms in the United
States-farms, that is to say. devoted
TO the production of vegetable, field
crop and flower seeds to be sold to
| farmers and gardeners. Some of these
| plantations are very extensive, compris-
| ing as much as 1000 acres.
Cabbage seeds are produced mainly
in New York State, particularly on
Long Island. and in Connecticut Gu
cumber seeds come from Missouri, Wis
consin and Nebraska.
Corn and onions for seed are raised
all over the country, and the same is
true of melon seeds, but carrot seeds
| and lettuce seeds are mostly from the
far West. California contributing the
best and the greatest quantity.
Peas for seed are obtained from the
neighborhood of Traverse, Mich, and
MantoWoc, Wis, the output of that re-
gion being free from the little worms
which are liable to infest peas grown
elsewhere.
We send immense quantities of farm
and garden seeds to Europe, but i'm
port only a few kinds, such as fancy
grass seeds. OF clover and grass seeds
we export hundreds Of tons annually,
Yankee clover being in especially great
demand abroad.
Most of the red clover seed comes
from the neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio.
for that product Nowadays clover seed
is quoted as regularly as wheat and
corn on the produce exchanges, and the
same may be said Of timothy seed.
Iowa alone produced more than two
and half million bushels Of timothy
seed last year, and during the same IL
months we exported more than $1,000
600 worth of grass and clover seed.
These figures will give a notion of the
magnitude of one branch Of the seed
raising business Utah is of all the
States the greatest grower of the seeds
Of that wonderful forage plant alfalfa.
Onion seeds are gathered by going
| through the fields and cutting off the
pods at the tops of the stalks, tying
| them in bundles and thrashing them
out on canvas. Beans are allowed to
stand in the field until they are yellow.
after which they are stacked up until
perfectly dry and thrashed out.
Peas are permitted to get dry and
| hard in the rows and then are taken
| to the barn for thrashing. To get cab
bage seeds, the stalks grown one year
nlust be planted the next, when they
| run to seed The same is true of car
| l OTIS; the roots which have developed in
| one season are put into the ground the
next and go to seed.
The harvesting of seeds is business
requiring no little expertness, most
kinds being gathered when not all of
the seeds are yet ripe, because other
wise many of them would be lost
Melons, cucumbers and tomatoes are
crushed in a press and permitted to
decay to some extent, the crude mass
being finally thrown into water, when
the pulp rises to the top, the seeds
sinking to the bottom and being thus
separated out Seed-bearing stalks of
| cabbages and other vegetables are car
ried to the barn IN sheets and there
thraShed out.
To ic toll xy
in Virginia. The best is grown by the
planters themselves and carefully saved
from season to season, with a view to
the perpetuation Of valuable varieties
This is the case not only in Virginia
and Maryland, but also in Connecticut
where the most anxious care is exer-
cised in the selection each season of the
tobacco plants that are to yield seed for
the following year
To scientific methods adopted in seed
growing is to be attributed much of the
Improvement accomplished in many
economic plants, the most careful selec-
tons being made from year to year of
the mother plants for the next crop.
This is true not only of truck and field
crops, but also of flowers
1t is III California that most of the
flower seeds are produced, including the
bulk of the petunfas, verbenas, nastur-
tiums and sweet peas
In most European countries there are
seed control stations, SO called, at which
seeds are tested by simple yet interest
ing methods, the work of sprouting
them being done mainly by young girls. |
There are 40 such stations in Germany,
where they have created such a senti- |
ment In favor Of pure seeds. as opposed |
to the adulterated stuff, containing more |
or less weed seeds. commonly sold, that |
the best dealers are glad to submit sam |
pies Of their merchandise for proof of
quality. guarantees Of which are re-
turned by the stations after examina- |
ton and trial.
The Department of Agriculture is |
anxious to establish similar system |
Of seed control in this country, if Con- |
gress can be persuaded to enact the |
requisite legislation.