The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-22

gress will convene at Niagara Falls today. It Is composed of seedsmen, men who grow seed for sale or market the product of those who do, and who meet in annual convention for the pur- pose of discussing matters growing out of their business. A perennial sub ject of discussion at conventions of seedsmen is the free distrib ution Of seed by the Federal Government, which. of course. is bitterly opposed by those who are in the seed business for a living. They have not succeeded in inducing Congress to discontinue the practice, but 1t is asserted that the sentiment in opposition thereto Is stronger than it was few years ago.
 American farmers and gardeners spend about $315. 900 a year for seed alone, from which the importance of the seed trade may be guessed. Seedsmen are on the lookout all the time for improved varieties, and the agriculturist or the gardener who suc- ceeds in developing a variety not on the market before and which possesses desirable qualities, makes his fortune. Thomas W. Lawson is reported to have given many thousands of dollars for new species of carnation. single ear of corn of a newly developed species brought s250 at the Sioux City Corn Palace Exhibition. and as much as 1000 was paid for twenty ounces of California. A Virginia farmer sold for very large sum last year few bushels of wheat representing va riety which he had developed through years of careful selection.
 Of course. prices paid for a new va riety of seed may represent the whim of the wealthy faddist, but in the case of grain and garden seed the price is controlled by the actual demand among the sturdy tiliers of the soil to whom the dealers will sell. Secretary Wilson of the Department of Agriculture, has said that the farm production of the country could be doubled without in- creasing the acreage were farmers to use the right kind of seed. The de- partment is expending thousands of dollars every year in conducting ex- periments for the purpose of develop Ing better seed of every kind, doing much of the work in cooperation with State experiment stations. In addi- ton. there are associations of farm CTS in a number of the States, formed for the purpose of developing seed of a higher grade, and also for the fos- tering of the sentiment for more care- full seed selection.
 The comparatively recent crusade for better seed is said to be but one phase of the general movement for bet ter things in all departments of life, a movement which is Illustrated by the demand for the conservation of the natural resources of the country, in the enactment of a pure food law, and in various other ways. James J. Hill, who controls 10000 miles of railroad in the Northwest, and is an authority on farm economies, has spent many thousands of dollars trying to induce the farmers along his road to. SOW better seed, realizing that this would mean bigger crops and heavier freight for his railroad to haul. He predicts that the United States will experience a food scarcity in the next hundred years and that the rigors of such period may be enormously lessened by making every acre bring twice as much as 1t will produce now, an achievement possible through the constant improve ment and use of carefully bred seed.
 About ten years ago, Sir Villain c. Mcdonald of Canada, established fund of s1o.ooo, which was given away in prizes to sons and daughters of farmers in Canada for punches of the finest heads of wheat grown on their fathers farms, a condition being that every competitor should plant oAe fol-- iOW1nR year h QuAItOT OL dh 6SAN HI wheat similarly selected. The com petition, extending over three years was highly successful in improving the quality of the seed wheat sown in Canada. The purpose of the competi- tton was not to get the largest heads, but to induce the children to sow grain from the largest heads, and thus furnish the farmers of the various provinces with object lessons showing the possibilities of seed selection.
 The crusade for better seed selec- tion has sought to induce the farmer to SOW clean seed. that is, seed free from seed of weeds, and to select the finest types for planting. These things do not require special intellectually or special apparatus. The department has also sought to improve seed by freeing 1t from disease through treat ing 1t with chemicals, and in this way controlling smut and rust in wheat, blight in potatoes, and so on. The re- suits accomplished through the treat Inent of seed for disease are remark able, and 1t is believed that if greater care were used in the selection of seed with an eye to its healthinsB many plant diseases would disappear No man who has persevered in efforts to improve seed by selection has failed, although all seed will degenerate un- less selection is kept up year by year.
 When the Department of Agriculture brought to thts country the seed Of the durum wheat. which was obtained in the semi arid region of Southeastern Russia, the wheat had deterioratedi through mixing with other varieties, but it has been bred up until the prod uct of the high plains of the North western States of the United States is better adapted to making maccaroni' than any wheat grown. It is esti- mated that the annual value of farm products of the United States has been increased over $10O,0O0,00O by the in- troduction bx the department of several varieties of seed hitherto unknown in the United States.
 It cost S2.000 to introduce sorghum seed from France and China, and the annual crop is valued at $1O0.00O,000 and grown on land generally unht for anything else. It cost s5.000 to intro- duee kafhr corn, and the crop Is val ued at S15,000,000 annually; durum wheat cost $10,000 and the annual crop is worth $5O,000.000. Professor Hansen of the Department of Agriculture, spent six months in Russia and Siberia and returned with seed of the dry land alfalfa, which is now producing an- nually millions of dollars. of hay from lands regarded as worthless because the rainfall is insufficient for ordinary plant life. The Government claims that every day between darkness and dawn the cost of Professor Hansen's Journey is returned in forage produced on lands of that character.