stated. We think we do not exaggerate in the least when we say that in the case of a majority of the fields of vegetables grown in this country, if all or even ninety-five per cent. of the plants were as nearly like the ideal varietal type of the sort used as are the best twenty to fifty per cent. of them, the profit from the field would be greatly increased, often actually doubled. Uniformity of type lessens the cost of cultivation, since it permits the different operations to be done at the exact time when most beneficial to all of the plants, lessens the cost of harvesting for the similar reasons, and increases the value of the product because of its uniformity. In any of our markets, uniformity in the character of the contents of a package is always one, often the most important factor in determining the relative price it will command. The addition of different, even if distinctly superior specimens, will materially lessen its value. As we have said we now have varietal forms well adapted to all common cultural conditions and market requirements, and the most important problem before the seedsmen is not the creation of new and distinct variations, but the development of purer and truer stocks of sorts we now have by the use of which the planter can be reasonably sure that all the plants in his field will be of practically identical varietal character. As seedsmen we may claim that he can do this now, and that the seed offered by American seedsmen is the best it is practical to handle, but I think they are a long way from it, and that I am speaking truly and fairly when I say that were we to test in garden trial samples of each and every variety of vegetable seed offered by even our best seedsmen, we would find more cases where less than fifty per cent. of the plants grown were at all typical of the variety than we would samples where as many as ninety-five per cent. could be said to be fully typical of the sort, and such as we would want to use for stock seed, yet there would be samples enough of this or even greater uniformity and purity of type to show that their production was not an impossibility. Nor is the argument that the public do not care for pure stocks, and would not pay for them, a valid one, for not a year passes but what seedsmen offer and sell in large quantities at high prices new stocks or strains to planters who eagerly buy them in the hope of getting purer and truer seed than they have used.

Again and again I have asked gardeners and truckers, "What would you give for seed ninety-nine per cent. of which you were sure would develop into plants like that?" pointing to some nearly perfect sample of the sort of which the field contained a good many, and received such answers as, "Oh! any price they asked," or "The price would cut no figure. Would buy enough for several years, for I never could hope to get it again." Nor is the production of such seed an impossibility, for it has been done again and again. We may not be able to fully accomplish it in all cases, but I am very certain that it is not only possible but entirely practical to produce stocks which shall be a great deal better than those now in common use, and that too without adding inordinately to the cost of production.

The first step in the development of such a stock is to form a very clear and definite conception of the exact varietal form we desire. I think it is essential that this be written out and be frequently referred to in order to avoid the indefiniteness and change in the type selected to, which I think is the cause of much of the

variability now so common. I am well aware that it is a practical impossibility to write out a description whch will enable the reader to select with certainty the exact type of plant the writer has in mind, but I also know by experience that the attempt to write such a description will always tend to sharpen the writer's conception of the exact type he is after, and be of great assistance to him in holding to that exact type from year to year.

The second step is to select a few plants which shall all come as near the conception of the type as possible, and save all the seed of each selected plant separately.

The third is to plant a sample of each of these selections, and carefully study their development and selecting the lot or lots in which the plants are most perfectly and uniformly of the desired type, save from each of these a sample made up of a few seeds from each plant of the lot or sample.

The fourth step is to plant these samples, we probably will be surprised at the result, for we are likely to find that in this second generation the product of some of the plants we thought the best will show great variation, but we may hope that there will be at least one which will hold true, and all the plants be of the desired type, thus showing that in their grandparent of the first year's selection we have a pure plant of the sort desired, and its seed, or at least that of it which we tested had escaped contamination from other plants. If the seed of all the plants first selected show variation in the second generation, either in the preliminary test or in the subsequent planting for stock, all we can do is to resume our search for a pure foundation plant, for our hope of a pure stock all rests on our securing this as a starting point, when we find it the battle is practically won, for all that is then necessary is to multiply the descendants of this pure plant without their being contaminated through pollen from inferior plants. This we can do by planting the seed of the original foundation plant by itself. It is, of course, true that human control of conditions is imperfect, and that it was possible that some of the seed of our foundation plant were crossed, and that it is impracticable to entirely avoid all possibility of crossing in the future generations, and so sooner or later we shall probably lose this absolutely pure strain through the influence of other plants, but in the case of most vegetables we can usually grow a good stock before this occurs, and in the meantime we should have developed in the same way another and equally good strain to take its place. Seed breeders often fail in their efforts and lose faith in line breeding, first, through the want of a clear conception of and rigid adherence to an exact varietal type, and second, through failure to appreciate the importance of first making sure by testing for TWO generations, of the absolute purity of their foundation plant. A stream cannot rise higher than its source, and we cannot make a thing pure by simply removing the evidences of impurity, which is all we really accomplish by even the most careful rogueing of a seed crop. Many of you doubtless think that all of this is quite impracticable, that no one can afford to test and retest in the way suggesed, but please remember all this work is on small lots and for the sake of absolutely pure and true stock seed, and given this it costs no more to grow an absolutely pure and true stock than it does one as impure and variable as many of those which are now, alas, too common. Indeed, the immediate cost of growing the crop actually sold would

be less, as with pure stock seed there would be no need of rogueing, and much of the loss in harvesting and the necessity for hand picking because of uneven ripening would be saved. I am quite certain that in many cases that if the cost of rogueing had been expended in improving, in the way suggested, the quality of the stock seed used, far better seed would have been obtained, and at less actual cost.

Finally we wish to refer again to the practical impossibility of establishing a pure strain simply through the removal, no matter how carefully and thoroughly it is done, of rogues or plants which show variation. In nine cases out of ten the rogue simply reveals a damage done probably two years before, and the plant which produced it and the rogue itself had done irremediable injury to surrounding plants before it was discovered and removed. If what I have said has served to make clear the impossibility of developing a pure and true stock simply through rogueing out the inferior plants, I have not talked in vain.

DISCUSSION.

President Green: I am sure we are all grateful to Dr. Tracy for this valuable paper. It contains thoughts that will bear discussion, and I am sure, that Dr. Tracy will be willing to contribute to such discussion or to answer questions such as any of you may wish to ask. He has not signified such willingness, but I believe that he will do so. At any rate, if there is any discussion of this paper it will be now in order.

Mr. Willard: I was interested in what Dr. Tracy said as to the value of writing out definite points. It called to my mind the fact that we have in our office old descriptions which were written out fifty years ago by Mr. Comstock, the senior member of our firm, which have proved very interesting and valuable in the way of reference. As Dr. Tracy has said, the keeping of such memoranda will be found of great value to the one making such notes. That I think is one point that is worthy of our consideration; that when we are working on any particular variety we take the trouble to write out the different points as observed from year to year. Thus I believe we will get a good deal of benefit ourselves, and follow out the idea which I am sure was in Dr. Tracy's mind, of a fixed type for these vegetables which shall be recorded.

President Green: Is there anything further on Dr. Tracy's paper? If not, we will hear from Mr. C. N. Keeney, on the subject of "The Effect of Low Prices on the Production of High-Grade Stocks."

THE EFFECT OF LOW PRICES ON THE PRODUCTION OF HIGH-GRADE STOCKS.

C. N. Keeney, N. B. Keeney & Son, LeRoy, N. Y.

"Regarding the Effect of Low Prices on the Production of High Grade Seed Stocks," we have simply to refer to a little recent history. Fifteen to twenty years ago a poor stock of Alaska peas was as rare as a good stock of the same variety is now. Up to that time prices had been good. There was money in Alaskas for the farmer, for the seed grower, for the seedsman and for the planter, but over-production resulted in low prices and low prices caused a lack of interest and a relaxing of that eternal vigilance which is the price of success in producing a good stock or in keeping it good.

The threshing machines used in threshing Alaskas were also used in threshing Blue Imperials, Wisconsin Blues and other field varieties, and whenever a threshing machine changes from one variety to another, it is pretty certain to carry a few quarts of peas in the machine and add them to the next crop threshed. In this manner, Wisconsin Blues were frequently mixed with Alaskas and where extreme care was not exercised to take these out, regardless of cost, the stocks became mixed and a bad matter became worse through hybridization. This extreme care was not exercised because the majority of buyers looked only at the price and would not pay the extra cost of keeping stock pure and true. The fluctuation in supply and demand occasionally made seedsmen and sometimes growers eager purchasers and before anyone was really aware of it, these inferior stocks which gained a foothold during the low prices and the reign of indifference, permeated nearly all the stocks in the country and for the last five or ten years it has been pretty nearly impossible to find any Alaska stocks that were right, and this unfortunate condition of things is clearly traceable to the period during which garden peas were sold at field pea prices. Fortunately, the conditions were so very bad as to force a reaction and a few people have been doing some very careful and efficient work in restoring Alaskas to their original purity, and we are likely to have much more satisfactory stocks of this important variety in the near future. Let us hope that we may be spared from the misfortune of such low prices as may result in again demoralizing Alaska stocks. The asking of high prices does not necessarily prove the purity of the stock, but one thing is certain; the long continued prevalence of prices at or below the cost line, is certain to result in inferior stocks.

Of all varieties of peas known to the seed trade, there is probably not one that excels in fine quality and delicious flavor, the old Stratagem; but the Stratagem is a bad sporter and if neglected even for a single season, it suffers from rapid degeneration. The man who sells Stratagem peas at anything less than a high price, sells them at an actual loss if he devotes to them the time and skill necessary to keep the stock right. The eagerness to compete in the matter of price has resulted in selling to the general public such inferior stocks of Stratagem as to give the planters the impression that Stratagems are really a poor variety, while they are certainly one of the three or four "top notchers" in the entire list of peas. So-called Stratagem peas have been sold at competi

tive prices which actually do not contain five per cent. of true Stratagems. The planter, because he didn't like the Stratagem sports, dropped the variety and now very many seedsmen do not attempt to handle it at all. There are a few seedsmen, however, who have never handled cheap Stratagems, and when they could not furnish the real thing, would not attempt to furnish any, the result being that these houses have a steadily increasing demand for Stratagems and are building up a profitable trade in this excellent variety.

The experience in the case of Alaska and Stratagem peas has been duplicated in many other varieties of seeds. Take for instance Red Valentine Beans: A dozen years or more ago, one of our bean growers made a standing offer of twenty-five cents a plant for every flat podded plant of Red Valentines which his customers could find in his fields, but the depression in the garden bean market which followed the large crops of 1896 and '97, left no margin for growers to use in keeping their stocks up to standard, and even that fine strain of Red Valentines fell from grace through the hybridization carried on by bees, and the grower's offer had to be withdrawn. Fortunately, however, there are quite a few seedsmen who appreciate the differences between stocks that are fair and stocks that are fine, and are willing to pay a reasonable difference in favor of fine stocks. This fact has encouraged the grower referred to, to renew his efforts in producing a pure strain of Red Valentines that is all round podded, and we understand the old offer of twenty-five cents a plant for every flat podded plant found in this strain of Red Valentines, has been renewed. It is, however, safe to assume that this work of restoring this very important variety to its best possible condition would not have been undertaken if all seedsmen were like the few who consider price only.

President Green: Mr. Keeney's paper is open for discussion. I am sure our thanks are due him for the care used in the preparation of the paper. If there are no com

ments, we will go on to the next business, report of delegates to the National Council of Horticulture, Messrs. J. C. Vaughan and C. E. Kendel. Mr. Vaughan is not present at this time, and Mr. Kendel will present the report.

The report was read by Mr. Kendel, as follows:

REPORT OF DELEGATE TO NATIONAL COUNCIL OF HORTICULTURE.

If your delegate would give a complete report of all that has happened in the Council since our last convention, it would take a week to prepare it and a day to read it, neither of which are desirable or necessary. A brief outline only, will be necessary to show you the wisdom of keeping this Association identified with the work of the Council and appropriating a sum of money to continue the good work.

Probably the most prominent work done was the holding of the Congress of Horticulture at Jamestown Exposition Sept. 23d, 1907, upon invitation of the Exposition authorities, and of the Norfolk Horticultural and Pomological Society, a brief report of which follows: