The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1908-03-31
Fleeing THE FARMER
The Improved Seed" Swindle the Cholera Cure Far
the Finishing" of Cattle Fraud and Other Low scheme.
Employed to Separate the Agricultural from
His Hard Earned Cash
By w. M. HAYS,
Assistant Secretary u. s. Department of Agriculture

y IMAM lhe man VINO steals your |
purse He gets paltry So each for
trees that would have been valuable |
elsewhere, but for this small consider.
alton he robs the farmer of his time.
his land, of his opportunity to use
hardy plum trees, and even robs him
and his neighbors of their faith in the
possibilities of family plum lot.
Our experiment station and depart
ment plant men are rapidly learning
the seed and plant variety business.
Ihey are not only learning how to
create new values by breeding, but
they are learning how to distribute
new stocks of seeds and plants. They
are organizing the testing of varieties,
SO that few mistakes need be made.
Ihey are coming to insist for them
selves, for the domestic scotsman and
nursery man and for the foreign seed
house that the varieties must be
tested within each state before they
will endorse them. Seed vendors are
gradually coming to see that they
must get into line with the efficient
and vigorous public seed service, and
that they must sell only seeds which
will produce wealth. A general label
ing law is being talked of, and this
would make it dangerous to sell two
varieties out of the same bin of seeds,
or sell trees under their wrong name
AS it would prevent the clothing
dealer from selling as all wool cloth
ing two-thirds cotton and one-third
wool.
Now the seed or tree swindlers en-
deavor to convert all the newly Gre
ated sentiment arising from the work
of the plant scientists for careful seed
selection into grist for their mill. AS
most of their representations are
made by personal solicitors, they
are able to claim department"
endorsement with a freedom and
recklessness which they would, per.
haps, not use in printed matter sent
through the although they dc
not hesitate so to construct their
letters and circulars as to deceive.
Whether the claims of these swind
lers are made personally or by mail
as in some of the most exaggerated
seed catalogues, the intent and the
result in most cases is the same. The
expectations of the ambitious anC
progressive farmer are raised to tht
| point of exaggeration. He is con
WINGED that by planting or by sowin!
the seed offered by the fake concern
he will multiply his crop production
that his richest acres will greatly in
crease their previous production AM
that his poorest land, with pedigree,
seed, will break the record of hi
choicest fields in corn, oats, barley
rye or cotton, and the forage crop
from his wet lands will give him ton
of nutritious fodder.
Of course seed which will perform
such miracles of production naturall
comes high in price-these swindler
are too shrewd to charge an ordinar
price for seed carrying claims so hig
as theirs. In some instances the pric
is double that which the farmer woul
pay for bonafide, purebred, standar
varieties, the yield of which has bee
tested by experiment stations
while in other cases four, an
even six, times the normal pric
is charged.
Now as to the results: They ar
disappointing. Now and then tn
Weld is fair as from ordinary seed, bu
seldom does it exceed that limit. Nor
frequently it falls below that STANDARD
The reason for this has been discove
ed by a few farmers, who have ha
enough of the true spirit of progress
70 dig into the history of the seed
for which they paid so fancy pric
Here is what they found: The "gref
propagating concern" is without tn
acres of land devoted to the raising
seeds so eloquently pictured by tn
agent: the scientific specialists
claimed to be in the employ OF IN
concern dwindle into corps of youn
men who draw salaries of $50 to 81
a month and their scientific labors
consist of travelling from one place
another and buying corn, wheat an
other grains direct from the farmer
in remote locations from the regio
in which the grains are expected to
sold for seeding.
These grains may be shipped to
dummy firm having the address
the warehouses of the seed compan'
There this common product of III
known fields is nicely cleaned, r
sacked into presentable packages an
sold to the farmers as the choicest
selected seeds.
There are many good seed me
chants. some of whom grow much
their own seeds; or contract for thel
before harvest, superintend their ma
yesting, curing, grading and storin
and send them out only after their
ability or ability to terminate is d
termined by trial. These men multi
ply the best plant blood as pure bre
live stock men multiply standar
breeds. that all growers may secul
nroperly grown seeds and plants
the most profitable varieties. The
are ever ready to take those teste
and the newly bred and tested seeo
and plants secured or created by II