"Janet Baraclough.." wrote in
message ...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains
these words:


"Sacha" wrote in message
k...

There's nothing ridiculous about it. Without plant breeders you
wouldn't *get* new varieties of anything. And why should they
spend
time and
money developing new strains for you to benefit while they don't?

But they did do precisely that for untold generations before the
Plant
Breeders' Rights came into being.

That was in days when garden labour was dirt cheap,

That is another urban myth which should be dispelled.
My father-in-law's weekly wage was roughly 1/70 of the price of an
average house
A labourer's weekly wage today is roughly 1/150 of the price of an
average house.
My father-in-law's weekly wage was roughly 1/20 of the price of a
family car.
A labourer's weekly wage today is roughly 1/50 of the price of a
family car.
My father-in-law's weekly wage could have bought him nearly 300
packets of 20 cigarettes.
A labourer's weekly wage today will buy him only 60 packets of
cigarettes.
All three these indicators say that labour today is noticeably less
than the cost of labour in the 30's.
Feel free to make further real comparisons.

[snip]

Oh, by the way, I actually agree that a plant breeder should be given
a little headstart before the hortibiz wallahs are let loose.

Franz