Sunday, May 11, 2014

1922 - Pansy Seed Worth More Than Gold!

"Men have fought, have suffered, have betrayed friends, have undergone untold hardship, have perished in the pursuit of gold worth but $20 an ounce and all unawares have made a football of fortune that lay close to their homes. It seems a far cry from gold to pansies, but pansy seed is worth from $30 to $50 an ounce, more valuable than gold. Why not dare all to gather pansy seed?

How many acres of placer ground will yield $5000 net a year, year in and year out? Not many, possibly, even in the best of ground, for gold is exhaustible. Yet within Portland's city limits is a pansy farm that pays its owner $5000 and more a year net, and he farms six .acres. His seed cleanup on each acre averages about 16 pounds each year, and this 16 pounds of seed sells for $3000. "

From the article at the end of this post.

GROWING PANSY SEED

In the September issue I published a brief account of the pansy seed enterprise of E. J. Steele, Portland, Ore.

AMERICAN SEEDSMAN has been fortunate in securing several pictures of this form and its products and these are reproduced on this page.

The three small views show workers harvesting seed in one of the gardens, beds covered with canvas to hold moisture for germination, method of curing seed. The largest picture shows a basket display of Mr. Steele’s choicest blooms, and the other a close-up of the plants in bloom.

Mr. Steele's finest pansy is the “Irene", a henna-hued bloom. He has also perfected a ruflled pansy, the “Masterpiece”, and hopes soon to present a bloom rose-pink in color.

"Concentrate your efforts on the extra fancy stock", advises Mr. Steelc. "Anybody can grow pansies, but not everyone can create something newer, finer, diflerent. In the creative field lies the greatest profit in the growing of pansies.”

Mr. Steele has in his file the names of a large number of “live" customers for his seed. The demands for seed have become so great that he is unable to fill orders for certain varieties.

He has been in this business for nearly 30 years and is conceded to have the largest pansy farm in the world. There are about two million plants set out at one time. The seed is picked by hand with one acre yielding about 16 pounds of seed.

Here is the link to the full, large PDF of the Sunday Oregonian article below.