The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-11-10
WHERE GARDEN
SEEDS E. ARE GROWN
SIX HUNDRED FARMS DEVOTED
TO RAISING THEM.
Some 1000 Acre Farms Used for This
Purpose and Business Pays We'll
States That Make Speciality of Ger
tain Seeds Great Quantities of Seeds
Exported.
Denver Republican

- 49, OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
There are at the present time more
than COOS seed farms in the United
tatest-jfarms, thatsissto say, devoted to
the reduction of vegetable, field crop
and Hover seeds to be sold to farmers
and gard ners. Some of these .planta-
t1ons are very extensive, comprising as
in New y ork state, particularly on
Long island and in Connecticut. Gu
scumber 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 Tor seed are obtained from the
neighborhoOd of Traverse, Mich, and
Manitowoc. Wis.,4th output Of that
region being free from the little worms
which are liable to infest peas grown
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
|
in which city is the principal market
for that product. Nowadays clover seed
is quoted as regularly as wheat and
corn on the Produce exchange, and the
same may be said Of timothy seed.
Iowa alone produced more than two
and a half million bushels Of timothy
seed last year, and during the same
twelve months we exported more than
So 100000 worth Of grass and clover
seed. These figures will give 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.
How various Seeds Are Preserved.
Onion seeds are gathered by. going
! thru the fields and cutting off the pods
at the tops of the stalks, tying them
in bundles and threshing them out on
canvas. Beans are allowed to stand in
the field until they are yellow, after
which they are stacked up until perfect
! ly dry and threshed out.
| Peas are permitted to get dry and
hard in the rows and then are taken
to the barn for threshing. To get cab
bage seeds, the stalks grown one year
must be planted the next, when they
run to seed. The same is true Of car.
rots; the roots which. developed in one
season are put into the ground the
next and 60 to seed. a.5- 49, ..s.....-.
1 The harvesting of seeds is business
requiring no little experiences, most
kinds being gathered when not ALTO
Ethe, seeds are yet ripe, because other
Ewise many Of them would be lost.
Melons, cucumbers and tomatoes are
|crushed in a press and permitted tc
decay to some extent, the crude mass
being finally thrown into water, when
the pulp rises to#the top, the seeds sink
ling to the bottom and being: thus sep
Earated out. SEED bearing ssalks Of cab
lbages and other vegetables are carried
Ito the barn in sheets and there threshed
out. 4F77z ... ..-..4 ,s.z
Tobacco seed Is raised commercially
in Virginia. The best is grown by the
planters themselves and carefully savet
from season to season, with view tt
the perpetuation Of valuable varieties.
I Care in Gathering Seed.
| This is the case NOT only in Virgins
4 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 yielt
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
ton being made from year to year o;
Il the mother plants for the next crop
i This is true not only Of truck and fell
4 crops, but also Of flowers.
i It is in California that most Of tn