Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 153, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1918 — Tons of Free Seed Sent by Government the Past Spring. [ARTICLE]

Tons of Free Seed Sent by Government the Past Spring.

To comparatively few of us has it ever occurred that the United States government is one of the world’s largest buyers of garden and flower seed. The few ounces of seed carried to us by the postman give no impression of the acres upon acres of land devoted to their propagation, or the care taken in determining their fitness for planting. But these small envelopes represent tens of thousands of pounds of the beat seed procurable. illuminating to know that the aggfeeTate weight of the free seed circulated from Washington this spring amounted to 499.06 tons, or, for the sake of Juggling figures, 15,969,920 ounces. Of this amount it is also interesting to know, corn seed predominated, 850,000 pounds of it being mailed to various sections of the country. Machines are used which automatically proportion the seed by weight, fin the individual packages and seal theme— Popular Mechanics Magazine,