Pioneer Seed Producer Makes the Grade
(Page 2 of 2)
March 14, 2008
By Oscar "Hank" Will III and Erin C. Will
The company was also a dealer for a number of seeders, planters, cultivators, fanning mills and many other pieces of agricultural equipment. Back pages of the catalog were devoted to Clipper brand seed cleaners manufactured by A.T. Ferrell & Co., Hudson brand spraying, planting and cultivating equipment, and Cyclone brand seeders and poultry equipment. For the livestock producer, the company offered a number of specialty feeds, minerals and milk replacer, some of which were manufactured in-house.
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Will & Co.'s catalogs chronicle early corn variety development and hybridization in the northern plains, and the agricultural contributions of Native American farmers who successfully worked that land long before European contact. Oscar and his son, George, were keenly aware of the skill of Native farmers in both seed selection and growing practices, and much of the company's ongoing success was the direct result of gifts of seed from Native American friends. For example, Will & Co.'s most famous introduction, the Great Northern bean, was selected from a leather pouch of seed given to Oscar in 1883 by Son of Star (Son of a Star in some references), a Hidatsa man living at the Ft. Berthold Reservation.
Heirloom seed suppliers continue to offer many of the company's corn and vegetable seeds, and dry bean enthusiasts select Will's Great Northern by the tons at grocery stores nationwide. Scholars discuss the significance of the company's impact on modern agriculture in the north, including a recent report that credits Will's Northwestern Dent corn with providing at least 5 percent of the genetic background of all modern corn hybrids in the United States.
Because of his lasting contributions, the North Dakota Agricultural Hall of Fame committee selected Oscar H. Will as their 2008 inductee in the pioneer category.
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