Subject: Re: Seed Savers Exchange?

From: [email-masked] (BrewTim)
Date: 12 May 1994 23:43:02 -0400

I've been a subscriber to SSE for several years. From what I can see, there is
little authentication except the willingness of the members to carry forward
what they are growing. Given that SSE is relatively unknown, and that it takes
some effort to offer seed, there is a build-in trust that if I'm offering some
old seed, that its indeed old seed. Most members are more than willing to say
"I obtained this seed from x farm where it was grown for 60 years". So MAYBE
Burpees rejected this seed 60 years ago (and no doubt no longer offers it
today), but whose to judge if this plant no longer merits being grown despite
being 'rejected' in the rush to offer bigger and better hybrids.

I like to interject on occasion and ask people to remember the corn blight
about 8-10 years ago. A substantial amount of  corn grown for commercial use
shared a few common genes which made them succeptible to the blight.
Cross-breeding the corn offered resistant plants. What if the old corn seed
with the blight resistant gene had been 'rejected' and gone extinct? While I
don't have the details at my fingertips, I can provide detials (specific
disease, etc) if anyone wants it...its in my gardening files.

I'd recommend SSE to anyone. If you have an old old old variety of garden
vegetable your great-grandparents brought from the old country, it would be in
everyone;s interest to get into SSE. 

.