CHE REFERENCE LIBRARY - ZetaTalk

Once a matter of home-growing and supply, the trade inseeds and bulbs has come to be a business of sufficient volumein the Ilnited States to wa.rrant sepa.rate statement in theCensus. The total value of flower and vegetable seeds producedin 1909 was upwards of 81,4OQ,OOO, as compared withW(i,WO ten Years earlier ; of cloyer seed, $Xi,!)OO,OOO in roundnumbers as aiainst $5,X9,000 ; all grass seed, $Xi, 137,000 a.ndPS,22S,OOO. These figures represent the va-11 ue of the seedcrops themselves, but they are at the same time an indicationof the vast agricultural croppagc they supply with seed and ofthe notable increa,se it) general crop-growing. Aside fromt hese reported cst i ma t cs, the aggregate of seeds grown andsaved in the home garden atd in the field for home use woulduncloilbt.ecll~- sllrpri.-;t 11.‘; if it c~~Illt-1 be kt~own.The increasing total ~aluc of sccrls probably does not indicatealone an increase in produr*tion. Seeds are intrinsicallymore va.luable deca,de by decwde b~aust more carefully grownand bred. Formerl?* plant-breeding n-as tiiost~ly a questionof producing new kinds or varieties ; its significance now liesmore in the bettering of existing varieties by- means of carefuland rational selection, whereby yield is increased, as well asquality and uniformity of stand. The importancbe of seedbreedingis now so well accepted in the public mind that thediscriminating planter of staple crops no longer asks merelyf or “seeds” any more than the stock-raiser asks merely for“ cows” ; the quality of the seeds is as importan~t to the corngr-oweras is the quality of the cows to the dairyman. Nanypersons now make a particularity of breeding seeds of staplecrops with care and skill ; this business will incereasc in volumeand importance.So essential is seed production to the welfare of the peoplethat governments have enacted laws for protection against