The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1906-12-15
FREE SEEDS SEEM DOOMED.

|
continue distributing pumpkin and
| squash seeds, the matter will no doubt
again come before that body when the
agricultural appropriation bill is con-
sidered. Last session the house COM
mittee on agriculture, which had con-
sidered the matter very carefully,
reached the conclusion that as the
government had been distributing the
same varieties of seeds for many years
and that all the seeds sent out have
| been on the market for from ten to
| fifty years and could be purchased at
any seed store, the farmers had been
| well educated as to the characteristics
of these seeds and it was a waste of
money to spend $4,000 annually in
distributing such common varieties OF
garden seeds The committee also
| took cogniZance Of the fact that the
! seeds were distributed through the
mails and entailed a burden on the
postoffice department and also consid-
cradle expense, estimated at from fifty
to two hunded and fifty thousand dol
| lars per annum. The cOmmitte ON
mitted the item for free seed distri-
| button, but it was reinserted by the
| 153 to 83 after a debate which ragged
| for nearly a week. One of the strong
est objections made to the omission
of the item was that the committee
| had acted without any one appearing
| before it to object to the distribution.
| This was explained by the fact that al
! though the seed dealers had objected
| to the distribution for many years,
| they had no intimatiOn that the COM
mittee would take action on the sub
| iect and therefore did not appear be-
| fore it, When the point was raised 1t
was of course too late to make rep
reservations to the house committee,
| but large delegation appeared before
| the senate committee, and as result
of the hearing that committee report
ed that a distinct majority was oppoS-
| ed to the plan of free seed Distribution
and hoped at this session to be able
| to make o satisfactory change. In or
der that those opposed to free seeds
| should have an opportunity to present
| their case to the house committee on
agriculture, that committee granted
them a hearing on December 18th, at
| which the entire matter was carefully
gone into.
The anti-free seed movement has
| the support of the National Grange.
National Farmers Congress and other
national, state and local organizations
Of farmers, together with the horti-
cultural societies, both state and local,
and the faculties of many, if not all,
of the state experiment stations and
| AGRICULTURAL colleges. 1t is unneeeS-
eary to remark that the American
| Seed Trade Association, the wholesale
| Seedsmen's League, and all assocla-
lions interested in the seed trade, are
also opposed to this distribution. me
| seedsmen take the ground mat thlS
government is the only one that gives
away anything in competition WIN
private enterprise, and that the only
thing given away is the cOmmonest
varieties of cheap garden seeds, ana
therefore the congressional free seed
distribution is an urjustified interior
| cnce with a private legitimate bust
ness. The farmers protest that while
this appropriation is made ostenslbly
| for their benefit, there are millions
Of packets that are burned or othel-
wise destroyed, or are distributed ID
merchants, bankers, mechanics, LABOR
ers and others who can not have any
interest in them. They also MAINTAIN
that as they are perfectly famlllar
with the varieties of seed distributed,
they can learn nothing from them, ana
as they are distributed in penny
weight packages the amount received
| is too small to justify the majority
of the farmers in planting them. they,
therefore, contend that this money
should be turned over to the depart
ment of agriculture for use with the
state experiment stations in develop
ing new, rare and valuable seeds and
nlants of both domestic and foreign