The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-06-22

ne international seed Trade congress
will convene at Niagara Fails today. 1t
is composed Of seedsmen. men who
grow seed for sale or market the pro-
duct Of those who do, and who meet in
annual convention for the purpose Of dis
cussing matters growing out of their bus
mess. A perennial subject of discussion
at conventions of seedsmen is the free
distribution of seed by the federal gov
eminent, which of course is bitterly Cd
posed by those who are in the seed bus
mess for a living. They have not sue
ceeded In inducing congress 10 discontinue
the practice, but il is asserted that the
sentiment IN opposition thereto is stronger
than ii was few years ago
American farmers and gardeners spend
about S3l5,00,o00 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 succeeds in developing
variety not on the market before and
which possesses desirable qualities makes
his fortune. Thomas W. Lawson is re
ported to have given many thousands of
dollars for a new species of carnation.
single ear OF corn OF a newly deVel-
oped species brought $3.50 at the Sioux
City Corn Palace exhibition. and as much
as 1900 was paid for twenty ounces Of
a variety Of onion seed developed in
California. A Virginia farmer sold for
a very large sum last year a few bush
els of wheat representing a variety which
he had developed through years Of care
full selection.
OF course prices paid for a new vari-
ETY. Of seed may represent the within of
the wealthy faddist, but in the case Of
grain and garden seed the price is con-
trolled by the actual demand among the
sturdy tillers 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 increasing the acre
age were farmers TO use the right kind
Of seed. The department is eXpending
thousands Of dollars every year in con-
Quoting experiments for the purpose of
developing better seed OF every kind do
ing much of the work in cooperation
with state experiment stations. In ad-
ditiOn, there are assoCia tons Of farmers
In a number of the states formed for
the purpose of developing seed of a high
er grade, and also for the fostering of the
sentiment for more careful seed selec-
ton.
The comparatively recent crusade for
better seed is said to be but one phase
Of the general movement for better things
in all departments of life. a movement
which is illustrated by the demand fof
the conservation of the natural resources
of the country, in the enactment of
pure food law, and in various other ways.
James J. Hill, who controls 10000 miles
of railroad in the northwest, and who
is an authority on farm economics, 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 a period may be
enormously lesseneds by making every
acre bring twice asrmuCh as it will pro-
duce now, an achievement possible
through the constant improvement and
use of carefully bred seed.
About ten years ago Sir William c. Nc
Donald of Canada established fund Of
$4,000. which was given away in prizes
to sons and daughters of farmers in Can
ada for punches Of the finest heads OF
wheat grown on their fathers farms.
condition being that every competitor
should plant the following year a quar-
lected. The competition, extending over
three years was highly successful in i'm
proving the quality of the seed wheat
sown in Canada. The purpose of the
competition 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 prov
trees with object lessons showing the pos
sibilities Of seed selection.
The crusade for better seed selection
has sought TO induce the farmer to SOW
clean seed, that is seed free from seed
Of weeds, and to select the finest types
TOT pld0LlQg- neSe tnllES 90 not require
special intellectually or special appara-
tus. The department has also sought to
improve seed by freeing it from diseases
through treating It with chemicals, and
in this way controlling smut and rust
in wheat. blight in potatoes and so on.
The results accomplished through the
treatment of seed for disease are re-
markable and it is believed that if great
ct care were used in the selection of seed
with an eye to its healthiness many plant
diseases would disappear. No man who
has persevered in efforts to improve seed
by selection has failed, although all seed
will degenerate unless selection Is kept
up year by year.
When the department Of agriculture
brought to this country the seed of the
durum wheat, which was obtained IN the
semi-arid region OF southeastern Russia,
the wheat had deteriorated through mix
ing with 9th varieties, but It has been
bred up until the product of the high
plains of the northwestern states OF the
United States is better adapted to MAXI
ing macaroni than any wheat grown. 1t