The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-12-18
UNCLE sAM's FREE SEEDS
Crops Worth Millions From the Dis
 tribution of Imported Beginnings.
(From the New York Sum-

Every time the suggestion Is made qJuit distributing seeds a huge pro test is raised in every corner of the land: It comes fro1R the city as well ats the farms and no iafw1nalker who values his job has the teme.ity to go beyond making the suggestion that the the governnn,e ent practice of distribut- try demands free seed.
 The. present plan of seed distribu- ton had it's origin back in 1743. Tn granted $eoo,ooo to promote the cu1ti- Vation of indigo and other crops in the American colonies, and the assem- plies Of various colonies appropriate ed small sums from time to time to efl- courage the cultivation Of plants new to this country, such as hops, null berry trees and vineyards for the es- tablishment of an American wine in dustry.
 Benjamin Franklin, while in Eng land as agent for Pennsylvania, sent cuttings In the five years that he represented this country as minister to France Thomas Jefferson forward ed many seed samples of grasses, rice, peppers and olives to spondents at home Other representatives of this government in the early days fol- Jefferson until during the adminis- tration of John Quincy Adams, in structior1s were given to all United States consuls to forward rare plants and seeds to Washington for distri- button botanical garden was later established in Washington in which were grown many Of the rare and in teresting plants imported from for eign countres
 Despite these efforts to introduce new seeds and plants many varieties of fruits and vegetables with which everybody is now familiar were scarce or unknown in this country in the early part of the 18th century. There were few seed farms, nurseries or seeds men. Seeds were mostly grown by the farmers themselves and there was no improvement from year
 Interest in better seeds and in se- curing new seeds and plants resulted largely from the agricultural fairs in augurated by the various societies for promoting agricuIture'' which were organized at Charleston, New York, Ph1ladelphia, Boston and Washington
 In 1889, through the efforts of Henry l.. Ellsworth commissioner of patents, an appropriation of s1s009 was made for the purpose of collecting and dis tributing seeds, prosecuting yagricul- tural inVeSig ationS and procuring ag ricultura1 statistics. With the appro- priatfon 30 900 packages of seeds were bought and dis ributed. This appro- priation marked the beginning of the present department of agriculture. Ap- propriations for seed purchase and distribution continued to- increase as the practice gained in popularity with the people until Congress itself finally took 9 hand in passing the seed around.
 Under the system that now prevails each member of the Senate and the House has a quota of 10000 packa geS of vegetable and 1000. packages of flower seed, each pac4a ge being made. up of five pa ckages containing differ ent kinds of seed. In this year 51, l38.24 packets of vegetable and 12,- 220,315 packets of flower seed, or a to- tai of 63, 364, 555 packets. were sent out The total weight Of vege table and flower seeds sent out was 994,116 Jc- rrI1 f0 fill 20 freight cars. Ia addition, there were distributed thousands Of pack ages of grass seed. and plants and vines of various kinds.
 The job of buying, testing, appor- tioning and distributing governrnnet seed is a Dig one. All seeds areb ought tions are opened and listed in the presence of bidders and officials of the department of agriculture. In awarding contracts the officials -disre-, gard varieties unsuita bfe for distribu- tion as well as bids of growers or dealers who in the past have failed to. carry out their. contracts satisfae- torily.
 The seed bought is subjected to thor ough scientific Nests. When a con signment of seed is received at the department of agriculture warehouse a small portion is taken from the middle and near the top and bottom, of at least one-fourth of all the bags and thoroughly mixed, to make a com posite sample, which is sent to the seed laboratory. From the sample 100 or 200 seeds are counted and placed between moist blotters in germinat t. ing chamber, which is really an incu- bator fitted with automatic devices for keeping the blotters moist and for regulating the tenpera ture to suit the requirements of different kinds of seeds
 At the end of week or more. de- pending on the kind of seed, the blot ters are examined and the number of seeds which have sprouted are count ed to determine the percentage of ger imitation. As a result of these tests many thousands of pounds of vegeta- ,ble and flower seeds which fail to meet the requirements are rejected annually.
 Great care. is exercised in planning a seed distribution. The country is di- vided into five sections. Seeds are apportioned according to climate con ditions and demand For example, such vegetables as okra and collards are distributed only in the South and corn, which is in much demand in other localities. is not sent to the South or California, because it is like ly to be destroyed by insects or fun gus diseases.
 Such seeds as watermelon and musk melon are not sent into the extreme seed and such vegetables as lettuce, radish onion, pea, bean, beet, carrot, parsnip, turnip, tomato and cucumber, will thrive at different seasons in all sections and are accordingly sent gen. orally throughout the country.
 Most vegetable seeds and many of the flower seeds. are grown in this country, seed growing as a business having assumed large proportions in recent years Formerly most of the seed produced in the United States was grown within 100 miles of New York city-thats is, in Connecticut on Long Island in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In the last 50 years, however the business has extended across the continent.
 Dr. Wm. Sadler, author of The Cause and Cure of CoIds,''i says that common colds should be taken seri- ously, especially when they .shang on" Foley's Honey and Tar Com pound is reliable household medi- ..I.! or, 1,lG a1.l1c l @E