The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1907-03-06

fair was greatly impressed with the h
grand work which the Canadian Seed
Growers association has accomplished i
for that commonwealth said Prof.
H. L. Bolley of the A. C. 4
an the matter Of growing seed grain
and other seeds for cropping purposes fs
the Canadian farmers belonging to
this seed growers association have
ALREADY placed themselves right along i
side of the stock breeders association, /
and are beginning to hold their meet
ings in Rconjunction with those peo- I
pie. They are even of sufficient ifna
lportance and numbers to be able to
hold fairs and special meetings upon
their own strength and merits. In
deed, this midwinter fair at Brandon,
while of large Importance because of
| the stock interests there, fine show of
poultry horses, sheep, cattle and
swine, etc, nevertheless found the
seed growers division of the fair of
sufficient Importance to attract fully
as much, If not more, attention than
either branch of the stock growers
Iassociation.
/ 'Inasmuch as our own fairs make
1 little or no success of the seed division,
II was much interested in determining
| wherein lies the success of our Can
iadian brothers in this line, and having
lopp0ftunity to act as judge in the
lseed department, 1t was comparatively
easy to observe why. Some years ago
Mr.. Robertson, a man Interested in
the welfare of the farming communi-
ties, offered certain prizes to farmers
who would show at the fairs the best
seed grown products bred from pedi-
greed, hand selected seed. Each farm
er was to- show a bunch OF handse-
llected stoels Of wheat, ten pounds of
lseed grown from this hand selected
I grain the second year, and two bushels
lof the general crop raised the third
year FROM this pedigreed grain, The
/, three exhibits constituted a&elass.
This work met with such marked inns
lprovement in the growing of cereals
, by those who undertook to compete in
| these contests that the Canadian Seed
! Growers association was the result.
8 The association formed, admits
/ only those farmers to membership who
comply with the requirements noted;
) and the secretary of the association
tissues certificates to the members just
fl pFOpOTllOI as JHcy nave pOuIAtS VI
bushels of this high grade seed for
a Isale.
! ''The association has now been in
p operation for a number of years, and
there are members in every province
lof the dominion who are breeding seed
4 lgrain wheat oats, barley, peas, corn
!. and other agricultural seeds under
i the directions OF this association, each
II sol zoe
: guaranteed by the certificates of the
! association. He can charge whatever
3 Iprice he sees fit for the seed, the in.
lterests OF the association being limited
lonly to the point that what he sell:
lis up to the standard The member!
!, Iof the association who were exhibiting
!. lat Brandon informed me that the de-
1 lmand for this high grade pedigreet
Z seed grain far exceeded the possibilit!
!. of the farmers to produce it. Their
! Iwere some fifty or sixty exhibits o
lvery high grade seed, each man issu
y ling his certificate Of the length o
! time he had been pedigreeing hi
= grain and the number of pounds o
hand-selected grain, and the number Q
- bushels of general crop that he ha
q lfor sale. In some cases this was a
~ Thigh as 1000 or more bushels
- llearned that this season the genera
* crop is selling at $110 to sips pc
! bushel.
There were many other exhibitor
- lat the fair, but the men who had bee
selecting their grain on their ow
1v farms after the plan laid down b
! the seed growers association Shove
4, Isuch superior stuff that the ordinar
Il, exhibitor did not even have look-i
af lin the possibility of winning prize
|, 1.-The prizes in all classes of Whea
4 showed six years of pedigreed breed
Al ling in the district of Saskatchewan
a. the seed was red fife and weighed So;
~ pounds to the bushel, and 81 bushe
~ to the acre. That farmer had SO
bushels for sale. so that anyone ca
~ see that he is farming with prof
ed There were several other varieties {
ha wheat exhibited. but the prize whea
lin all cases whether first, second {
Al Third prizes, exceeded 64 pounds pt
he Ibushel.
ta The dominion government has
VERY strenuous pure seed law whic
III demands high standards of viabilit
land purity. We can readily see no
this has been brought about by II
- leducation of the members of the see
growers association when we kno
that the member loses his standir
in the association If, on inspectio
his grain is found to contain any
the seeds of noxious weeds barred
the Canadian seed law We We're n
allowed to give prizes to any samp
OF seed, of wheat or oats, for exampl
in which we could find a single SCI
of wild oats. Some of my reade
will be interested to understand WI
it Is that a member of the associate
cannot sell more seed than the hil
grade pedigreed stuff. The WORKING
of this association are essentially
follows
Al member must each year han'
I pick enough plants from his gener
crop to furnish seed sufficient to gro
the hand selected plot for the secoi
year He must plant this seed ups
land under special cultivation, as pr
! scribed by the rules Of the associ
q tiOn His general crop must be grow