Gartons Agricultural Plant Breeders

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Contents 1 Gartons 2 Pioneer Plant Breeders 2.1 Historic Introductions 2.2 History of the Business 2.3 Invention offered to the Government 2.4 Commercial Start 2.5 Gains Scientific Credibility 2.6 Launch of Gartons Limited 2.7 Predates Mendel's publication 2.8 Plant Breeding Grounds 2.9 Seed Cleaning and Distribution 2.10 Purity and Germination Laboratories 2.11 Honorary Doctorate 2.12 Commercial Success 2.13 Three Miln family Managing Directors 2.14 Ceased Trading 2.15 Miln Family Cartulary 3 References

[edit] Gartons

This is a short history of the United Kingdom's first agricultural plant breeding business.

[edit] Pioneer Plant Breeders

Dr John Garton, of the firm of Garton Brothers of Newton-le-Willows in the United Kingdom was the Originator of Scientific Farm Plant Breeding. In 1898 the business became known as Gartons Limited and was to become Britain's largest plant breeding and seed company.

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[edit] Historic Introductions

The firm's historic introductions included Abundance Oat, the world's first agricultural plant variety bred from a controlled cross, introduced to commerce in 1892^[2].

Among the other 171 varieties^[3] Gartons Limited bred and introduced to commerce were:

Standwell Barley, introduced in 1898^[4], was the first barley bred from a controlled cross.
White Monarch Wheat, introduced in 1899^[5], was the first wheat bred from a controlled cross.
Invincible Barley, introduced in 1899^[6], was the first crop plant control crossed for disease resistance.
Perennialized Red Clover, introduced in 1898^[7], the first controlled cross clover.
Perennialized Italian Ryegrass, introduced in 1907^[8], the first controlled cross pasture grass.
Apex Winter Wheat, introduced in 1967^[9], the first wheat to be granted Plant Breeders Rights in the United Kingdom.

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[edit] History of the Business

John Garton and his two brothers, Robert and Thomas, were in business with their father, Peter, in Golborne and Newton-le-Willows in Lancashire, England, as corn and agricultural merchants.

As a young man, John Garton (1863 - 1922)^[13], was the first to understand that whilst some agricultural plants were self-pollinating, others were cross-pollinating. He began experimenting with the artificial cross pollination firstly of cereal plants, then herbage species and root crops. He attracted the friendship and encouragement of a young Scottish seedsman, George Peddie Miln (1861 - 1928)^[14] who had trained in Dundee and was seed manager of Dicksons Limited of Chester.

[edit] Invention offered to the Government

Knowing he had developed a far reaching new technique in plant breeding John Garton began to carry many thousands of controlled crosses on fields at the family farm in Newton-Le-Willows. So satisfied was he with the results, he and his colleagues were happy to give publicity to this new science. Indeed, In 1889 they tried to interest the UK Government’s new Board of Agriculture in the invention they called Scientific Farm Plant Breeding. But this was to no avail.

[edit] Commercial Start

Robert^[15] and John Garton, therefore, made a commercial start as R. & J. Garton in 1880^[16]. They launched their first variety, Abundance Oat, in 1892.

Generous publicity followed in the press, together with the publication of articles in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and in the Transactions of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, by their respective botanists.

[edit] Gains Scientific Credibility

Further scientific credibility came with the enthusiasm of Professor Robert Wallace (1853 - 1939) of the University of Edinburgh, the oldest chair of agriculture in the United Kingdom and second only in the world. He said 'Under the system originated by Mr John Garton an infinite number of New and Distinct Breeds of Oats, Barleys, Wheats, Clovers and Grasses have been produced'^[17].

In 1903 Professor Hays of the Agricultural Experiment Station in Minnesota, USA said 'No one has done more brilliant work in Agricultural Plant Breeding than Messrs. Garton, and this is from now on to be recognised.'^[18]

Two further attempts were made to interest the Board of Agriculture, but again without success^[19].

[edit] Launch of Gartons Limited

So successful was the business becoming that in 1898 a public company was launched, Gartons Limited. It was based in Warrington. Many of the 600 or so subscribers for £50,000 cumulative preference shares of 6% rising to 10% were farmers. George Peddie Miln joined the Company as Managing Director, together with Thomas R. Garton, Robert Garton, Thomas Baxter and Arthur Smith as directors^[20]. Robert and John Garton agreed to continue to work for the Company for five years for £500 and to receive the entire ordinary share capital of the new company of £50,000.

It rapidly became the United Kingdom's best known plant breeding and seed company, and also exported seeds widely^[21].

[edit] Predates Mendel's publication

It is worth noting that the Gregor Mendel work on the genetics of peas was first published in 1902.

[edit] Plant Breeding Grounds

The plant breeding grounds were initially at Newton-le-Willows but moved to Acton Grange, two and a half miles south west of Warrington before settling in about 1930 at Little Leigh near Northwich in Cheshire. A seed development farm was located in Essex, and root crop trials were located on farms in the north of England and in Scotland. Traditionally groups of farmers were invited in mid-summer to inspect the plant breeding grounds and be entertained by the Company.

[edit] Seed Cleaning and Distribution

Initially the Seed Warehouse for cleaning and distributing seed was in Newton-le-Willows but moved to Friars Green in Warrington in 1899 by which time the offices were at Thynne Street, Warrington^[22]. A purpose built seven story Seed Warehouse and separate Head Office were built at Arpley, Warrington in 1910^[23]. There was an L. M. S. railway siding into the Seed Warehouse. On 25 April 1912 the Seed Warehouse burned down^[24] but quickly rebuilt largely by the same builders. Seed cleaning machinery, some unique to the Company, ensured the purity of the product. As time went by fewer seeds were ‘picked’ or cleaned by hand by upwards of one hundred staff as machinery became more sophisticated. Across the top of roof of the warehouse was the company’s name which had to be disguised during wartime. Demolished in the late 1980’s an hotel was built on the site.

[edit] Purity and Germination Laboratories

From the beginning Gartons Limited tested its seeds for purity and germination at its own seed testing laboratories in Warrington. The1920 Seeds Act, for the first time, made testing and declaring for purity and germination a legal requirement for all seed companies. The Official Seed Testing Station was created, firstly in Victoria Street in Westminster, London and then within the newly formed National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge. Larger seed companies including Gartons Limited were licensed to carry out their own purity and germination testing. Both the Seeds Act 1920 and the formation of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany came about during the three year presidency of the Seed Trade Association by George P. Miln who gave great encouragement and was involved their formation.

[edit] Honorary Doctorate

The Senatus Academicus of the University of Edinburgh offered to confer the honorary doctorate of LL.D on John Garton shortly before his death in March 1922, which he duly accepted. It was proposed by Professor Wallace and approved by Principal Sir Alfred Ewing and was a unanimous decision. This was the first time a degree was conferred posthumously by the University of Edinburgh or any in Great Britain.^[25]

[edit] Commercial Success

Gartons Limited was the United Kingdom’s only major agricultural plant breeding company. After the Great War (1914 - 1918) the United Kingdom government set up plant breeding stations in Cambridge, Edinburgh, Aberystwyth and in Glasnevin in competition with Gartons Limited.

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[edit] Three Miln family Managing Directors

George P. Miln died in 1928 and was succeeded as managing director by his eldest son, Thomas Edward Miln (1890 - 1963)^[28] and he was succeeded in 1961 by his elder son, Wallace Miln (1919 - 1994)^[29]. Wallace Miln was a founder of the British Association of Plant Breeders and twice President of the Seed Trade Association of United Kingdom. He left Gartons Limited in 1973 to join his son, Barnaby, in his seed business in Herefordshire. In 1965 Peter Darlington^[30] had succeeded John Garton, Dr John Garton's nephew, as chairman of Gartons Limited.

From 1947 Gartons Limited's shares were quoted on the London Stock Exchange. The Company's profits for the previous seven years had averaged £48,940^[31].

[edit] Ceased Trading

It ceased trading in 1983 some years after changing from retailing seeds directly to farmers to wholesaling through agricultural merchants^[32].

[edit] Miln Family Cartulary

Barnaby Miln, Wallace Miln's elder son, holds historic documents relating to Gartons Limited in the Miln Family Cartulary in Edinburgh.^[33]

[edit] References