—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 29,1977 26 Civilization’s success seems to secceed seeds What do Thomas Jef ferson, John Chapman, Wendelm Grimm and the picturesque Willamette Valley of Oregon have in common 9 They’re all part of one of the most basic and yet most colorful phases of the development of American agriculture - seeds. Jefferson, better known for his work on the plow, risked the death penalty in Northern Italy to get seeds of an upland rice for South Carolma. Seeking to protect its monoploy of the crop, the Italian provincial govern ment prohibited the export of seeds. Jefferson smuggled them out in his coat John Chapman was better known as the legendary Johnny Appleseed, who washed seeds out of the pomace at cider mills and walked the pioneer wilderness for nearly a half century planting apple trees. Wendelin Grimm emigrated from Baden, Germany in the nud-1800’s to Carver County, Minn. Among his most prized possessions was a few pounds of alfalfa seed. For years, he planted and replanted alfalfa, saving only the hardiest seeds until he developed a variety, now known as Grimm alfalfa, which would withstand the severe Minnesota winters. Seed production has come a long way from those early days when each farmer had to assume individual responsibility to save his best seed as the geneis of next year’s crop. Today, it is a highly mechanized, complex in dustry, a center of which is clustered in the valley of the Willamette River m nor thwestern Oregon. But the Willamette Valley wasn’t always the so-called seed capital. The first seed house in the country was established in Philadelphia, in 1780. Even into the early 1800’s, New York and Pennsylvania supplied most of the young country’s seed, primarily timothy and clover. Later, the seed business moved into the Ohio Valley and Toldeo served as the seed capital for a time. Gradually, production continued its westward move until it Faucet drip UNIVERSITY PARK - Dripping faucets cost money. This means not only is water lost but some of the energy used to make it available is also lost. A couple of drops of hot water per minute can add dollars to one’s monthly cost of heating water, say experts. In most instances the dripping faucets can be stopped by installing a new faucet gasket on the valve stem that goes into the faucet from the handle reached the Willamette Valley, where a combination of soil and climatic con ditions are more suited for raising crops for seed rather than normal harvest. The government also had a varied and interesting in volvement in seed. Beginning in 1817, U.S. Consuls serving abroad were officially instructed to collect seeds and send them back for replanting. Before that, farmers devised many methods to obtain the best seed for another year of planting. For vine plants, seeds generally were saved from the largest fruit growing closet to the roots. Farmers swapped seed and in many places it was worth more than money. In 1838, the U.S Commissioner of Patents started a government sponsored program of collecting and distributing free seeds. Up to the time it was discontinued m 1923, the program resulted in the distribution of billions of packages of free seed. In 1898, the government began to log and identify each new plant brought into the country through the collection of seeds. By 1961, more than 265,000 plants were so identified. Today, new plant varieties are developed primarily at the USDA Agricultural Experiment Stations and seed is made available to growers who plant and harvest to supply the overall commercial market. These seed growers, such as are concentrated in the Willamette Valley, still face many of the challenges which have always been encountered in agriculture. From 1760 to late in the 1830’s, wheat was par ticularly susceptible to a pest called the hessian fly. Finally, a sailor on duty m the Mediterranean sent some late-seeding wheat back to a farmer friend in New York and a hessian fly resistant variety was developed. This year, one of the worst infestations of rust has hit the perennial ryegrass crop in the Willamette Valley. Some yeilds of the ryegrass seed, which not only com prises the bulk of the supply of the country but a good bit of the world, have been cut to a third of normal. seed costs money To replace it, one must shut off your pump or water service and take the faucet apart When installing a new gasket, one should make sure that on the hot water faucet, a hot water gasket is used. Before reassembling a faucet, one should check the valve seat on which the gasket makes a seal. If it is rougn or pitted, it will be necessary to smooth the seat with a simple faucet tool which is available at local hardware and variety But the solution to the rust problem likely lies in the need for more seed research. Bob Nixon, a Willamette Valley seed grower for 35 years, expresses his opinion on the need for research. “In Oregon, we’re very, very lacking m research on grass seed,” he explams. “We’ve done a great deal m wheat research to eliminate rust and other diseases and develop new vanties. But wheat is a worldwide crop and grass seed production is concentrated here in the Willamette Valley ” He further suggests that perhaps more support is needed from the seed growers. He’d like to see some of the money coming from assessments on growers for each acre of field burning be used to conduct seed research into developing new vaneites. The uncertainty over field burning of the straw once the seed is harvested also has prompted growers to be reluctant to try growing new vanities, he adds. THE ONE MAN WAY! Harvesting seed is a unique challenge for man and machine in the Willamette Valley. It resembles harvesting in slow motion. Combines generally operate at a third or less of normal speed because of the heavy, full crop windrows and the lightness of the seed being harvested. Some seed is so light it takes more than 10 million to make a pound. There is a wide variety of crops to be harvested and a combine may work in a dozen or more different crops during a season. Crops range from the light-seeded rye, blue and bent grasses to several types of clover. A combine can next move to fields of kohlrabi and par sley and end up in sugar beet, where the crop grows to 10 or 11 feet tall. Combines must be con stantly adjusted for changing conditions and crops. In harvesting for seed, condition of the seed becomes paramount. While seed harvested in the Willamette Valley is designed largely to supply the basic ingredient on which a new season of agriculture depends, one crop is grown to guarantee a different type of future. Bob Nixon plants about 300 acres of Sudan Millet on the Finley Wildlife Preserve near Corvallis, Oregon. This is left as food for geese, ducks, pheasants and deer on the preserve. It is one of the ways he demonstrates his belief that When you get serious about heating with wood, you should consider the “Down Drafter". SWAMP HOLLOW WOOD STOVE CO R.D. 1, BOX 571, DALLASTOWN, PA. 17313 On evenings and weekends, call 717-428-1842 “no one in the world is more conservation-minded than the farmer.” Whether it be a plant for wildlife, a plant for human or animal food or a plant to provide a green lawn, a statement made some 200 years ago by Jefferson - one of the country’s first seed promoters - still holds true “The greatest service which can be rendered to any country is to add a useful plant to its culture.” The principle behind this stove is to force the unbumt volatile gases back through the bed of coals, producing more ef ficient burning plus a slower, £}J more even burning of the fire. I For the booklet, “Buyer’s Guide to Woodstoves” and other important information on using wood as a fuel, send $l.OO to:
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