SB 117 
 
 S'fiED GROWING*FORDHOdK .I3lRM. 
 
 YI-Atlee RliRPEE &C?, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
MANURES: 
 
 How to Make and How to Use Them. 
 
 BY FRANK W. SEMPERS, 
 
 Director of the Fordhook Chemical laboratory. 
 
 From Farm Journal, Philadelphia, August, 1895, 
 
 Every user of fertilizers should have it.' 
 From Country Gentleman, Albany, N.Y., March 2, 189S. 
 
 He writes in language that can be read understanding^ by all. 
 From Florist's Exchange, New York City, February 25, 1893. 
 
 We heartily recommend this book to everyone that is in any way 
 interested in the question of manures. 
 
 From The Inter-Ocean, Cliicago, February 25, 1893. 
 
 It deals with authentic facts fully verified, and not with wild theories. 
 The farmer could scarcely find the subject more clearly and intelligently . 
 discussed than he will find it in this neat little volume. 
 
 From American Farmer and Farm News, Springfield, 0., March, 1893. 
 It is concise, practical, and brimful of really new facts upon a subject 
 of growing importance. It is written by the well-known chemist, F. W. 
 Sempers, who presents science clothed in words readily understood by 
 the everyday man. 
 
 From Ohio Farmer, Cleveland, 0., March 16, 1893. 
 
 Unlike most of such works, it does not deal in " glittering generalities, " 
 but comes right down to details, and tells the farmer what he wants to 
 know. It answers scores of such practical questions about fertilizers as 
 come to this oifice every year. 
 
 From American Agriculturist, New York City, April, 1893. 
 
 Fertilizers are so necessary a factor to the most lasting success in farm- 
 ing, that this little volume will be useful to every farmer or gardener. 
 The author is the chemist of the Fordhook Farm, and has made a con- 
 cise, practical hand-book containing the latest researches in scientific 
 agriculture in all parts of the world. 
 
 JFVom^RuRAL New Yorker, New York City, May 27, 1893. 
 
 It is just one of those books that we take delight in recommending 
 to every reader who uses fertilizers. We do not know of any other book 
 of this class that answers so well and in such a simple manner the ques- 
 tion which every season arises in the minds of farmers. 
 
 From Gardeners' Magazine, London, England, June 3, 1893. 
 
 The book is especially welcome for the ability shown by the author in 
 dealing with the subject, which is full of difficulty, and the remarkable 
 clearness with which the details are set forth. We have in this country 
 numerous good works on fertilizers and their application, but having 
 regard to its comprehensiveness, excellent arrangement, and low price, 
 there is no English book on manures that can approach it, and in the 
 interest of the general body of cultivators in this country, we regret that 
 it has no publisher on this side of the Atlantic. 
 
 Price, postpaid, 50 Cents. 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
We ' ' ' 
 
 SELECTION 
 
 IN 
 
 SEED GROWING, 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 PAPERS READ BEFORE THE SEEDSMEN'S SESSION OF 
 
 THE WORLD'S AUXILIARY HORTICULTURAL 
 
 CONGRESS, CHICAGO, AUGUST 16, 1893. 
 
 WITH DISCUSSION ON SAME BY WILLIAM MEGGAT, OF CONNECTICUT; 
 
 T. W. WOOD, OF VIRGINIA; PROF. L. H. BAILEY, 
 
 OF NEW YORK, AND OTHERS. 
 
 THE SEEDSMAN'S TRIAL GROUNDS, 
 
 BY W. ATLEE BURPEE, 
 
 TO WHICH ARE APPENDED SEVERAL NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ON 
 
 "MODERN METHODS OF THE SEED TRADE," 
 "SEED GROWING AT FORDHOOK FARM." 
 
 k< 
 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO. ; 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, W. 
 1894. 
 
,\1 
 
 w 
 
 Copyright, 1893, BY W. Atlee Burpkk & Co. 
 
 WM. F. FELL & CO., 
 
 Electrotypers and Printers, 
 
 1220-24 sanson! street, philadelphia. 
 
VO 
 
 PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 
 
 The widespread interest in the development of new and improved 
 varieties of Vegetables, Grains and Flowers, and the importance of the 
 papers read at the World's Auxiliary Horticultural Congress held in 
 Chicago August 17, 1893, suggested the permanent publishing in this 
 pamphlet of those bearing directly upon 
 
 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 The well-known names of the Authors of these papers, given in the 
 Table of Contents, accompanied as they are in the following pages by 
 stenographic reports of the remarks in introduction and discussion of 
 the essays, taken from the American Florist and the Florists' Exchange, 
 render unnecessary the writing of any long publishers' preface. 
 
 In connection with these essays we also publish a paper on the 
 Seedsman's Trial Grounds, as bearing upon the same subject and 
 illustrating that in seeds " Eternal vigilance is the price of safety." 
 
 Our original intention was to publish only these papers and the 
 discussion thereon, but the nominal price (ten cents or free as premium) 
 at which this pamphlet is published, and the fact that it is exclusively 
 offered in connection with our seeds as announced in the Farm Annual 
 for 1894, have led us to reprint articles from several papers descrip- 
 tive of seed growing at Fordhook Farm. 
 
 Many gardeners and amateurs unable to visit Fordhook during 
 the growing season have expressed a desire to know more about 
 modern methods of growing and testing seeds than the crowded 
 pages of our Farm Annual will permit. While to some degree 
 partaking of the nature of an advertisement, we think these articles 
 will prove interesting to thousands of our friends and patrons. 
 
 We have also availed ourselves of the space herein at our command 
 to give a more extended notice of our books on Horticultural subjects. 
 The publishing department of our business is conducted for the mutual 
 good of our customers and ourselves, and they are reminded that 
 we always allow a credit of ten cents on every dollar to apply toward 
 the purchase of any books published by us. 
 
 W. Atlee Burpee & Co. 
 
 Philadelphia, December, 1S93. 
 
THE IMPORTANCE OF SELECTION IN 
 SEED GROWING.* 
 
 Complaints of poor seed come to us from every 
 quarter, and we are asked, " Where is the fault? '' 
 We reply, in a great degree the cheat is the man 
 that gets cheated. The principal cause of poor 
 seed is the desire and willingness to huy poor seed, 
 which is only a synonym 1'or cheap seed. Seed 
 growing is one of the most difficult and particular 
 branches of horticulture ; in order to secure a stock 
 of good or superior quality of seeds, the utmost 
 attention to selection must he paid. Everything 
 that does not come up to the desired type must be 
 discarded, even though it takes the whole crop, 
 which is not unfrequently the case. This makes 
 seed growing a difficult and expensive business, 
 one requiring the most constant care and attention. 
 Therefore, when the best results in seed growing 
 are attained, they are attended with very great ex- 
 pense, at least four times, in many cases, as much 
 as seed of an ordinary character would cost. Con- 
 sequently they bring a correspondingly high price 
 in the market. It therefore follows, when dealers 
 whose reputations have become well established 
 make up their price lists, it is but reasonable to 
 suppose they are doing, in way of prices, what 
 every one must do in order to make a success of 
 his business, make prices in proportion to the cost 
 of the article sold. Then they sow good seeds, 
 reap a fair profit, and the consumer is not only 
 satisfied, but is a living advertisement of this 
 seed house. 
 
 In opposition to this class, there are to be found 
 dealers who wish to build up a trade, and with it 
 
 a fortune, by selling cheap seeds 
 
 We do not question the intentions of this class of 
 dealers, but we do know, from practical experience, 
 that it costs more to grow first-class seeds alone 
 than the amount for which they are usually sold, 
 without taking into consideration the cost of sell- 
 ing. We therefore say, if you sow cheap seed, you 
 will reap cheap returns— a crop of disappointment 
 rather than one of pleasure and profit. 
 
 * Extract from an article by C. L. ALLEN in The Practical Farmer, September 
 16, 1893, entitled, "As We Sow, so Shall We Reap," to which he gives the sub- 
 title, " Why Good Seed Cannot be Sold at Low Prices." 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 The Horticultural Congress. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Opening Address, by President Bonney, 7 
 
 Opening of the Seedsmen's Session, 9 
 
 "Pedigree or Grade Races in Horticulture," by Henri L. de 
 
 Vilmorin, Paris, 10 
 
 "Selection in its relation to Seed Growing," by C. L. Allen, 
 
 New York, 19 
 
 "Seed Growing in Denmark," by J. Pedersen Bjergaard, of 
 
 Copenhagen, 27 
 
 "American Seed Growing," by C. C. Morse, of California ... 33 
 Discussion on the preceding papers, by William Meggat, of 
 Connecticut, T. W. Wood, of Virginia, A. W. Livingston, 
 of Iowa, Prof. L. H. Bailey, of New York, and others, . . 37 
 "The Seedsman's Trial Grounds," by W. Atlee Burpee, ... 41 
 
 Extracts From the Essays at Chicago, 49 
 
 li Modern Methods of the Seed Trade," by C. L. Allen, of Long 
 
 Island, 60 
 
 Farm and Garden Notes ; from the ' ' Public Ledger ' ' of Phila- 
 delphia, 71 
 
 "Where and How Seeds are Grown ;" from the "Philadelphia 
 
 Inquirer," 78 
 
 "Seed Growing and Testing ; " from the " New Jersey Temperanee 
 
 Gazette," 92 
 
 Fordhook in Fall ; from the "Doylestown Intelligencer." . ... 93 
 W. Atlee Burpee & Co.'s Seed House; from the "Florist's Ex- 
 change," N. Y 96 
 
 Why we Publish Books on Horticulture, with Advertisements of 
 all the Books Published, 99-115 
 
In a country so vast and varied as ours, where the setting sun 
 of the East is the rising sun of the West ; where in the North 
 there is rarely a month without a frost and at the South rarely 
 a month with one ; where the soil in one locality is the most 
 productive, in another the reverse, and this same, too, in close 
 proximity— the seedsman has difficulties to contend with that are 
 entirely unknown in any other country. He must have a 
 knowledge of selection sufficient to enable him to choose from 
 every section of the country such types as are best adapted to its 
 various conditions of climate and soil. — From the essay by 
 C. L. Allen, of New York, page 26 of this book. 
 
From The American Florist, Chicago, August 17, 189.1. 
 
 THE HORTICULTURAL CONGRESS. 
 
 THE Horticultural Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition 
 at Chicago convened in the Memorial Art Palace on Michigan 
 Avenue, on Wednesday morning, August 16, as per published 
 programme. There was a large attendance and much interest was 
 manifested. 
 
 President Bonney, of the World's Congress Auxiliary, welcomed the 
 visitors in the following words : — 
 
 " Friends of the Seed, the Flower, the Fruit; fair Trinity of 
 Potency and Beauty and Use : The fairest conception of human 
 existence is of life in a garden, with its exquisite beauty and peace, and 
 from which culture and care have banished every hurtful thing. 
 Among the pictures in the temple of my own memory there is none 
 brighter than that of the garden near the family mansion, in which my 
 mother gathered roses and violets and the early fruits. 
 
 "The loveliest symbols of thought and aspiration of sentiment and 
 affection are flowers. There is no more deep and subtle mystery than 
 that which conceals plant and shrub and tree in the seemingly simple 
 structure of a seed. 
 
 "There is no more charming art and occupation than the cultivation 
 of flowers and fruit-bearing trees. There is no calling more innocent and 
 conducive to human welfare than that of the horticulturist. The improve- 
 ment and beautifying of public, parks and grounds depend chiefly upon 
 the gardener's art. The protection of fruit crops, involving vast pe- 
 cuniary interests and the best part of the food supply of great numbers 
 of people, is almost wholly dependent upon the studies, the experiments, 
 and practical wisdom of those whom this Congress on Horticulture rep- 
 resents. 
 
 "The trade and commerce in seeds, fruits, flowers, and nursery 
 products is of such magnitude and importance that it is j ustly regarded 
 as one of the greatest business interests of the world. It is therefore 
 most appropriate that arrangements have been made for a Congress on 
 Horticulture among the many congresses of 1893. 
 
 7 
 
8 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 "This Congress has been organized by a Committee of Organization, 
 of which Mr. J. C. Vaughan is chairman, assisted by a Committee 
 of Co-operation of the American Seed Trade Association, of which 
 Mr. W. Atlee Burpee is chairman, and a Committee of Co-operation of 
 the Society of American Florists, of which Mr. E. G. Hill is chairman. 
 Upon the nomination of these committees Mr. P. J. Berckmans has 
 been appointed the presiding officer of the opening session of this 
 Congress. 
 
 "A glance at the programme prepared shows that it is properly repre- 
 sentative of the various interests involved. France, Germany, Den- 
 mark, and man}* - American States are represented by appropriate 
 subjects and contributors. Other States and countries will doubtless 
 take part in the discussion. In behalf of the World's Congress 
 Auxiliary of the World's Columbian Exposition I welcome you to this 
 Congress. ' ' 
 
From The Florist's Exchange, New York, August 26, 1898. 
 
 SEEDSMEN'S SESSION. 
 
 THIS session, which was presided over by Mr. W. Atlee Burpee, of 
 Philadelphia, president-elect of the American Reed Trade 
 Association, was held on Thursday forenoon, August 17, 189o. 
 There was a large and enthusiastic attendance, and the papers read 
 were listened to with the closest attention. Mr. Burpee, in opening 
 the proceedings of the day, said : — 
 
 After the opening of the Horticultural Congress yesterday by Mr. 
 Bonney, the addresses of welcome by Mr. Vaughan and Mr. Berck- 
 mans, it only remains for the chairman of the Seedsmen's session to 
 introduce the speakers whose names you will find on the programme. 
 This Congress is certainly very well timed ; while not so well attended, 
 owing to the counter attractions, the papers read will be of high inter- 
 est and have wide influence after their publication. Horticulture, for 
 its proper advancement and full development, seems necessarily to 
 be as international in its character as are the finances of the world. 
 The advancement of American horticulture and of American seed 
 growing, while it has been great, has ever looked to Europe for much 
 of its knowledge, for many of its improved types, and must continue 
 to do so, just as Europe will look to America and each nation to the 
 other for the special advantages of soil or intelligence which each 
 nation may offer. 
 
 Of all the European nations to which America is indebted for ad- 
 vancement in progressive seed growing, none stands higher than France, 
 and in all France there is one name which stands pre-eminent, the 
 name of a man whose signal services to the advancement of horti- 
 culture have been recognized by the French Government with the dis- 
 tinction of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. That gentleman is with 
 us to-day. While a citizen of France, yet, from his wide achievements 
 in horticulture, we can call him a citizen of the world, and the ad- 
 vancement and impetus which he has given to the improvement of 
 many varieties of vegetables and flowers grown from seed cannot be 
 confined to only one country, but must be world-wide in its benefi- 
 cent effect. I have the pleasure of introducing to you one whom we 
 all delight to honor, Mr. Henri L. de Vilmorin, of Paris. [Applause.] 
 
 9 
 
PEDIGREE OR GRADE RACES IN HORTI= 
 CULTURE. 
 
 BY HENRI L. DE VILMORIN, Paris. 
 
 [Read before the Seedsmen's Session of the World's Fair Horticultural 
 Congress, Chicago, August 17, 1893. 
 
 THE subject on which I intend to address you may seem at first 
 sight to he a rather special and limited one. I trust, however, 
 that upon consideration you will see with me that it is one of 
 great importance and of the deepest interest. I claim for it a constant 
 and all-powerful action in the life of garden plants when we are seek- 
 ing the most improved races. 
 
 It is a well-estahlished fact that the life-work of plants is to make 
 the mineral wealth of the earth fitted for the use of animals 
 and of man. Now it is clear that the plant's work can be 
 done well or ill according to its more or less perfect fitness to its func- 
 tions. It is, moreover, within the power of man to consider, and to 
 some extent control, the efficiency of plants as regards their work, to 
 select and to increase the best only, and by continued selection to de- 
 velop more and more the good qualities of each kind. In this way 
 man raises races and varieties of plants which do their work best and 
 quickest. Heredity is the lever by which the results of the study and 
 care and perseverance of the raiser are fixed, so to say, into the most 
 valuable of the plants grown for man's use or delight. We have no 
 more powerful means of improvement of vegetable forms. All the 
 care, food, and protection given to plants may make them larger and 
 finer, but only selection among many of the same kind, with the help 
 of heredity, can fashion an enduring race of plants with special good 
 qualities for our farms, gardens, or orchards. Chance seeding may yield 
 some very good finds, as sometimes a good hit is made by shooting at 
 random . But no good marksman will, even after the luckiest of chance 
 shots, dispense with the use of his eyes and judgment for the rest of 
 the day. In the same way no experienced raiser will trust to chance 
 
 10 
 
PEDIGREE IN HORTICULTURE. 11 
 
 in the choice of the seed from which he expects some precious results. 
 He will gather it from one plant seen among many, and will have good 
 reasons to show for his choice. 
 
 It is plain that selection was not at all times done with such thought 
 and skill as it is now : but ever since plants have been cultivated an 
 evident improvement has been going on for our benefit, and fixed and 
 valuable races of field plants, vegetables, flowers, and fruits were known 
 to the oldest nations and are mentioned by the oldest writers. Since 
 the settlement of America a new field was opened for good work, which 
 yielded a splendid crop of honor and profit to American as well as to 
 European cultivators, and through them to their respective countries. 
 
 Let any one who doubts the high value of selection look at our fine 
 races of cabbages, kales, cauliflowers, kohlrabi, and rutabaga, and com- 
 pare them with the wild cabbage of our western shores of Europe ; let 
 him compare our fine garden beets and our mangels to the wild beet of 
 the Mediterranean shores ; let him compare the tomatoes and potatoes 
 of to-day with the wild South American plants, — and he will see proof 
 that only human thought and skill have brought about such wonderful 
 changes— many of them in our own day, many, on the other hand, some 
 hundreds of years in existence. In the tomato and potato we have two 
 distinct examples of garden races, viz., (1) those which are increased 
 from seeds, as the tomato, and (2) those which are increased by divi- 
 sion of a plant, as the potato. 
 
 Even where we divide the plant itself heredity is of some import- 
 ance, as new varieties can be raised from seed only, and it is by no 
 means indifferent to gather seeds meant for the purpose from one 
 variety of potato or from another. Distinct groups of races are seen in 
 the potato, as the rose tribe, to which the Early Rose, Late Rose, and 
 many more can be referred. Just in the same way a nurseryman who 
 sows pear pips in search of new varieties will take good care to take 
 them from some old sort, the parentage of which gives good hope of 
 success. It follows, then, that even where increase by division is the 
 rule the knowledge of the quality and history of a plant may be of 
 essential importance. 
 
 What Heredity is. 
 
 Where selection is done with skill and care the improvement of 
 many kinds of cultivated plants effected by its means is invaluable. 
 The large pansies, the huge hybrid gladioli, the large-flowered cannas, 
 were all brought from the state of small flowers to their present excel- 
 lence in our own day by careful observers, who, watching every varia- 
 
12 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 tion and keeping an exact record of the descent of all their plants, 
 turn to the best account the wonderful action of heredity. 
 
 That plants are endowed with the power of changing to some extent 
 under altered and varying conditions no one will deny who knows even 
 a little natural history. Such changes will occur in wild nature as 
 well as under cultivation, and by the action of heredity will be trans- 
 mitted more or less faithfully to the next generation. 
 
 But an all-important fact must be recognized and remembered. It 
 is that in the wild state only such variations have a chance of enduring 
 as give the plant in which they occur some advantage in its life. 
 Many variations appear every year which soon disappear, because they 
 are a loss, not a gain, to the plant. Suppose in the wild state a potato 
 plant with short stems and late-sprouting tubers in a mass at the base 
 of the stem. Such a plant would not have any chance against rank 
 growing and early shooting varieties, and it would soon perish. Still, 
 some such characters belong to some of our best potatoes. This is 
 owing to the action of man, who throws his power into the balance 
 when cultivating plants which are useful or pleasant to him, and who 
 gives the weakest plant, if it is for some reason a favorite with him, all 
 the advantage he can to make it thrive and answer his purpose. Most 
 of the variations induced in our garden plants are not in favor of the 
 plant if in a " free fight " with its kind in nature. All our improved 
 roots, as carrots, turnips, beets, make an early and succulent growth 
 for our own benefit, but not at all for their own good. If left to their 
 fate to struggle with their own wild forms they would soon have to 
 take a "back seat " and very likely soon perish. It follows, then, that 
 varieties improved from man's point of view must receive kind treat- 
 ment and richer food than wild forms of the same plant. The culti- 
 vated plant, like the domesticated animal, yields in a measure its 
 powers of self-defense to adapt itself to our service. Man must in re- 
 turn provide for its safety and nourishment. In the improvement of 
 plants the action of man, much like influences which act on plants in 
 the wild state, only brings about slow and gradual changes, often 
 scarcely noticeable at first. But if the efforts toward the desired end 
 be kept on steadily the changes will soon become greater and greater, 
 and the last stages of the improvement will become much more rapid 
 than the first ones. 
 
 I may relate here, in a few words, an unpublished experiment which 
 I have been conducting for more than twenty years, from 1872 to the 
 present year. It has consisted in cultivating one of our parsley-worts 
 (Anthriscus sylvestris), a European weed, in order to change its slender 
 
PEDIGREE IN HORTICULTURE. 13 
 
 and much forked roots into fleshy, straight, and clean roots, say like 
 those of the parsnip. Among the first batch of roots raised from wild 
 seeds a dozen were selected with a tendency in their roots to larger and 
 straighter bodies. Each root was planted separately and its seed har- 
 vested separately. Of the dozen lots obtained eight or nine were dis- 
 carded at once and roots were selected only in such lots as exhibited 
 some trace of variation. Again, a dozen roots or so were chosen, a 
 drawing made of each root, which was afterwards planted separately. 
 I have sketches of all the roots selected, so that it is possible to follow 
 all the stages of variation of each plant living at this day. For the 
 first ten years the changes were slight, but now they are more and 
 more marked with every generation, and in some of the lots the straight 
 and smooth roots are the most numerous. 
 
 My object was not to create a new vegetable, as the roots of Anthris- 
 cus sylvestris have such a strong taste of camphor as to be quite un- 
 eatable, but simply to show that careful and continuous selection could 
 transform a wild plant in years that do not equal a quarter of the span 
 of many human lives. Like results have been shown by my grand- 
 father with the wild carrot, only its results were open to controversy as 
 to possible crosses between garden varieties and the wild strain. No 
 such objection can be raised in the case of my wood parsley-wort. 
 
 How it Works. 
 
 Althought heredity is an ever-present and active agent in the trans- 
 mission of qualities and characteristics in organized beings, its mode of 
 action is not so simple as at a first glance it might seem to be. That like 
 breeds like is a commonly admitted fact, but there like must be taken 
 in a rather broad sense, and the fact that some differences may occur 
 between the parent and the offspring is at the bottom of all improve- 
 ment of plants by selection. 
 
 A being born from one or two of the same kind will be like his 
 parent or parents. But if the parents, although of one kind, were not 
 exactly like one another, how will the descendant look ? Will it take 
 after the one or after the other, or blend the features of both ? And 
 again, if^eachof the parents comes from two different ancestors, which of 
 the four will take the lead in the form and character of the new being ? 
 
 The network of lines of attraction which would induce a living 
 organism, plant, or animal to be like every one of its ancestors can 
 scarcely be unraveled. Still, the consideration of the various influences 
 acting on an incipient organism can be pretty accurately summed up in 
 direct heredity, which tends to make the new plant or animal to re- 
 
14 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 senible its immediate progenitors, and atavism, which induces it to be 
 like the mass of its removed ancestors. I omit for the present the 
 idiosyncrasy, which is the tendency in the new plant to combine the 
 inherited characteristics in some special manner adapted to its own 
 particular wants. If the parent was like its progenitors, then all the 
 influences work the same way, and there is every chance of perfect 
 lixity in the series of beings born in succession. But if the progenitors 
 for one or more generations have swerved from the characteristics of 
 the ancestors, heredity and atavism will come into conflict, and the out- 
 come cannot be predicted surely. 
 
 Some hints on probabilities may be had from an experiment con- 
 ducted by my father on two varieties of the Lupinus hirsutus, the one 
 with blue and the other with pink flowers. The conditions were in 
 this case very well adapted to the study of the action of heredity, the 
 flowers being in the lupine not only hermaphrodite, but also cleistoga- 
 mous, so that a seed is the product of only one bloom of one plant. 
 Two lots of seeds were sown to begin with, some of the blue and some 
 of the pink strain. Most plants turned out true ; still, a few with pink 
 flowers were found in the lot of blue, and conversely some blue among 
 the pink ones. 
 
 In the following year seeds of the true plants were sown again, and 
 along with them seeds of the " rogues " found in each lot. In the lat- 
 ter the greater proportion of plants followed the color of the parent 
 plant, but a great many more showed the alternative color than was 
 the case in the original lots. Seed from blue and pink flowered plants 
 of the third generation were sown again, every possible combination in 
 the relations of the ancestors as to color and distance being tried as 
 much as possible and the number of blue and pink flowered plants 
 being carefully noted in each case, and the experiment was carried on 
 for several years. Though no exact rules can be arrived at from experi- 
 ments with living things, from the tabulated results of the experiment 
 the following inferences can be drawn : — 
 
 1. The tendency to resemble its parents is generally the strongest 
 in any plant. 
 
 2. But it is notably impaired if coming into conflict with the ten- 
 dency to resemble the bulk of the ancestors. 
 
 3. This latter tendency (called atavism) is constant, though not very 
 strong, and scarcely becomes impaired by a series of generations pass- 
 ing by without a reversion to the ancestral type having taken place. 
 
 4. On the contrary, the tendency to resemble a near progenitor 
 (two or three generations only distant) very soon becomes obliterated 
 
PEDIGREE IN HORTICULTURE. 15 
 
 if the said progenitor be different from the bulk of the ancestors. From 
 this it will be seen that choice new races can be raised quickest aud 
 with the smallest amount of labor where all needless conflict in the 
 hereditary powers is avoided. 
 
 How the Action of Heredity can Best be Turned to Account. 
 
 But it may be rightly remarked here that it must be shown how 
 variations can be obtained before we are shown how they can be made 
 permanent. 
 
 It is admitted by all observers that plants, being immovably fixed 
 in the ground by their roots, and consequently prevented from seeking 
 favorable and from avoiding untoward circumstances, are endowed by 
 way of compensation with the power to adapt themselves to some ex- 
 tent to different conditions as to soil and climate. The manner in 
 which plants so adapt themselves is most admirable, but it is not here 
 the place nor the time to consider it. Suffice it to say that the changes 
 in the size, position, and anatomy of their various organs appear to be 
 called up by rather than produced directly by the changed conditions. 
 The important point in the present case is that variations in the special 
 characteristics of a cultivated race may and do occur occasionally, and 
 that such variations can be made permanent and still magnified by 
 the process of selection. To wait for them to appear among seedlings 
 is the simplest and most ordinary process. But their appearance can 
 be hastened and made more probable by the selection of seeds from a 
 plant showing already some trace of variation, or by means of a cross 
 with some other variety of the same species. As soon as a distinct 
 variation has made its appearance the work of selection begins. The 
 essential thing is to secure a deviation from the old type of the plant 
 under experiment. It matters little whether such deviation takes 
 place in the desired direction or not. Some authors even advise the 
 experimenter to look for any change at the first stage, and at the next 
 one for the greatest possible deviation from the first change in any 
 direction except a reversion to the old type. This may be useful as far 
 as the appearance of new forms is concerned, but if adhered to too long 
 it might make the fixation of the new forms rather difficult and slow 
 by breeding continuity out of the new race. 
 
 Whatever the cause of the original variation was, action of the plant's 
 own tendency to vary, or some external cause, or a cross of pollen, the 
 next thing to be done is to make the variation permanent by selection. 
 This is sometimes very easy, the new form becoming at once perfectly 
 true and fixed. A case in point occurred several years ago in my trial 
 
16 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 grounds at Verrieres. One plant of Clarkia elegans with pure white 
 double flowers was discovered among a number of the same species 
 with double purple flowers. It was singled out of the seed sown the 
 next year, when every plant raised gave only double white blooms, and 
 it has never since been known to give any but pure white flowers. If 
 such cases were of common occurrence they would make the task of the 
 breeder of new varieties a very easy one. Unfortunately, they are very 
 rare exceptions, and the tendency of new seedling forms is rather 
 to revert frequently and rapidly to the original type. Great attention 
 and vigilance must be exerted to counterbalance this tendency to 
 reversion. The best and most useful plan is not to mix together the 
 seeds of the selected plants in case several were singled out, but to sow 
 the seed of each separately, as the several plants selected may be 
 endowed in a very unequal degree with the power of transmitting their 
 own characteristics to their progeny. Now, the principal object and the 
 principal effect of selection, if well conducted, is to effect a complete 
 transmission of the qualities we seek of any given race. Its aim must 
 be, in consequence, to eliminate any plant which is not fit to reproduce 
 itself " true." 
 
 It is often observed that in such cases, when the seeds of several 
 plants selected in the same batch of seedlings are sown side by side and 
 separately, the one will come up true with only a very few or no 
 " rogues " at all, while others will give a very medley of plants. If 
 further selection be made only from the lot that came up true, the new 
 variety may be considered as already fixed ; whereas many years of 
 cultivation and " roguing " maybe required to bring it to anything 
 like purity if progenitors be taken from the lots in which numerous 
 variations occurred. Fixity of character is of great importance to 
 garden and field plants grown from seed, and the tendency to fixity 
 should be inbred in plants just as the tendency to earliness or to hardi- 
 ness. The power of transmitting their own qualities to their progeny 
 is just as hereditary as any other qualification, and no effort should be 
 spared to make it one of the points of a new race. Breeding from 
 single progenitors appears, so far, to be the safest and shortest way to 
 the proposed end. 
 
 Cross-breeding greatly increases the chance of wide variation, but it 
 makes the task of fixation more difficult. It, however, gives the 
 raiser the only means in his possession to unite in one the qualities of 
 two different plants while discarding their weak points. All the differ- 
 ent qualities of the two parents seem to unite in the most varied com- 
 binations in the cross-bred products. In this way plants are often found 
 
PEDIGREE IN HORTICULTURE. 17 
 
 which inherit most of the good points of both parents, while some 
 others sum up the defects of both. This I repeatedly observed in rear- 
 ing cross bred wheats. An occurrence not unfrequently observed in 
 cross-bred plants is that some character belonging to one of the parents 
 is magnified in the progeny. For an instance, Mr. Charles Naudin 
 observed in crossing daturas that the cross of a slightly prickly variety 
 with another kind that had smooth stems resulted in the raising of a 
 decidedly prickly hybrid. 
 
 In framing the character of the progeny the action of each parent is 
 often very unequal, according to the power of each in transmitting its 
 characters. The one that is better endowed in that respect stamps its 
 features more firmly on the cross bred plant. Discussions have arisen 
 on the influence of the male and of the female progenitor on a cross. 
 I believe that the stronger organism of the two, the one rather which 
 is better endowed with the power to transmit its characters, will pre- 
 dominate in the progeny whether it comes from the male or the female 
 parent. 
 
 One trait that makes the fixation of cross-bred plants difficult is in 
 some characters of both parents breaking out in different parts of one 
 and the same plant, instead of being, as we could wish, blended 
 together. In cross-bred peas, for instance, which were raised from a 
 white-seeded and a green-seeded parent, it often occurs that at the second 
 or third generation pods are produced which contain mixed white and 
 green seeds. In the same manner round and wrinkled seeds are found 
 in the same pod. This is a great difficulty and an almost sure sign of 
 further variation, as a plant showing such breaks cannot be depended 
 upon to give rise to a uniform progeny. In many similar instances re- 
 corded in my books of experiments the green peas gave plants with white 
 seeds and the white ones with green. You can scarcely expect a plant 
 which is not constant in its own parts to be constant in its progeny. 
 
 The unity in character of any single plant is the main factor in the 
 work of pedigree or grade breeding, and I wish to lay especial stress on 
 that point, which I think of paramount importance. The considera- 
 tion of the qualities or defects of a plant taken as a whole, not of 
 minor parts, should guide the raiser in his work. Of this I am con- 
 vinced from experience, and I may be permitted to give a few facts in 
 support of my opinion. 
 
 The advice is often given in horticultural books to take the seeds 
 
 from some particular portion of the seed-bearing plant in order to 
 
 secure a better result. In German stocks, for instance, it is a common 
 
 belief that the seeds of pods taken from the middle or from the base of 
 
 2 
 
18 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 the main stem will give a larger proportion of plants with double 
 flowers than if taken from the top of the same or from side shoots. I 
 many times tested the idea, and it always proved a fallacy. All the 
 pods on a plant give an almost exactly equal proportion of plants with 
 double and single flowers, no matter what part of the plant they may 
 be gathered from. 
 
 A real difference is in the percentage of single and double flowers 
 from various plants of the same variety. In this way very wide dif 
 ferences sometimes occurj but not in the case of seeds taken from vari- 
 ous parts of the same plant. I tried an experiment with seeds of 
 Chrysanthemum carinatum gathered on double, single, and semi- 
 double heads, all growing on one plant, and found no difference what 
 ever in the proportion of single and double-flowered plants. In striped 
 verbenas an unequal distribution of the color is often noticed ; some 
 heads are pure white, some of a self-color, and most are marked with 
 colored stripes on white ground. I had seeds taken severally from all 
 and tested alongside one another. The result was the same. All the 
 seeds from one plant, whatever the color of the flower that bore them, 
 gave the same proportion of plain and variegated flowers. No more 
 proof, I think, need be given that selection, which is all-important in 
 the case of seeds from different plants, is of no importance as regards 
 the different parts of any one plant on which seeds may be borne. 
 
 No limit can be fixed as to the improvements which may be ex- 
 pected from care, thought, and selection. The gains of the last dozen 
 years may surely be taken as the forerunners of better things. It is 
 clear that no very important additions to our cultivated plants are to 
 be expected now from the discovery of new species, but an unlimited 
 field opens before the raiser of new and improved forms in all our 
 garden flowers and in fruits and vegetables. The recent success of 
 European raisers of new begonias, of hybrid gladioli, and of large- 
 flowered cannas are equaled by the gains of the American raisers of 
 chrysanthemums, of garden beets, and of tomatoes. I may add by 
 way of conclusion that much good may be expected from the more 
 and more frequent exchange of strains between the old and the new 
 world. Such complete changes of soil and of climate frequently give 
 rise to variation, and so, either by subtle changes one cannot see the 
 cause of, or by well considered crosses, American and European varie- 
 ties of our useful or beautiful plants may give rise in their turn to 
 more numerous and useful variations than would have occurred had 
 these races been confined exclusively to the country of their origin. 
 
SELECTION IN ITS RELATION TO SEED 
 GROWING. 
 
 BY C. L. ALLEN, New York. 
 
 [Read before the Seedsmen's Session of the World's Fair Horticultural 
 Congress, Chicago.] 
 
 SELECTION, from the seedsman's standpoint, means more than a 
 choice of samples, or more even than a preference of types in 
 the various classes of vegetables or flowers, whether it is in re- 
 gard to shape, size, color, or in its relation to earliness or lateness in 
 development, as may he desired. Neither has it any connection with 
 the popular theory of what is known as "natural selection," " the 
 survival of the fittest," that active principle of evolution which was 
 cradled in the fertile mind of that distinguished philosopher, De 
 Lamarck, and by the late Charles Darwin developed into the " origin 
 of species." 
 
 To the seedsman selection is not a cause, but an effect, and in its ap- 
 plication to his business it is of vital importance ; in fact, it is the 
 foundation upon which the superstructure of business success is com- 
 pleted. In the development of a type, selection is the principal agent 
 employed, but doubly important is its office in preserving a type after 
 it is secured. There are two separate and distinct principles in selec- 
 tion, and the two are antagonistic ; they are both methodical, but for 
 entirely different purposes. In the one instance we select with a view 
 of the greatest possible increase in seed production, and in the other 
 just the opposite. In our cereals selections are made to produce the 
 greatest amount of seed with the least possible amount of straw. To 
 that end, in the best wheat-growing sections, the longest and best 
 filled heads are carefully selected ; and those, too, in which the grains 
 are the heaviest for seed purposes. The seed thus saved is given every 
 possible aid to reproduction by growing it on soil best adapted to its 
 development ; by giving each plant sufficient room to grow strong, 
 rather than tall ; and by furnishing plant food proportionate to its 
 
 19 
 
20 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 necessities. At the proper time, if the same careful selection is again 
 made and the same care in cultivation given, there will result another 
 marked improvement, both in size and productiveness of the grain. 
 This operation oft repeated will establish a type superior to that from 
 which the first selection was made. To preserve that type the same 
 care must be given that was necessary to produce it. 
 
 The same rule holds good in the selection of Indian corn, an im- 
 portant work that is generally overlooked. It is the common practice 
 to select the best ears for seed at the time of husking, which is a step 
 in the right direction ; yet this practice is attended with many disad- 
 vantages, and does not, as a rule, accomplish the purpose intended. 
 In this method the largest ears are selected, of which there is usually 
 but one ear on a stalk ; besides, there is no certainty about selecting 
 such ears as ripen at the same time, which is a matter of great im- 
 portance. It is possible for a weak plant to produce a large ear, and 
 it is very common for a plant of bad habit to do so. It is but natural 
 to suppose that the grains of stunted and sickly corn, even though the 
 ears may attain a large size, necessarily partake of the weak constitu- 
 tion of the plant that produced them, and that to reproduce from such 
 would only be to encourage bad habits. For this reason ears should 
 be selected before the stalks are cut, choosing those on which there 
 are two well-formed ears on the stalk, which should be of low 
 growth and well furnished with leaves, and the ears set near to the 
 ground. The whole plant should, by the length and breadth of the 
 leaves and the vigor of the stalk, indicate perfect health. Earliness 
 should always be combined with productiveness ; therefore, the first 
 ears to ripen, when all other conditions are favorable, are the ones to 
 select in the line of improvement. All should be gathered at the 
 same time, in order that there may be uniformity in ripening, united 
 with earliness, which is of the greatest importance in developing 
 a variety. 
 
 This may suffice to show the method of selection, where the object 
 is to produce the greatest amount of perfectly developed grains or 
 seeds from a given acreage, to be employed as food. With this object 
 in view it is needless to state that nearly all seeds will reproduce 
 themselves more freely if sown as quickly as possible after maturity. 
 This is shown plainly by the way weeds reproduce themselves, the 
 seeds of which are sown as soon as ripened. But in selection for vege- 
 tables, where seeds are only used to reproduce the plant, the opposite 
 course must be pursued, and forms must be chosen that produce as 
 little seed as possible. This is particularly noticeable with the Eng- 
 
SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 21 
 
 lish-grown cucumbers, which are,- from nature's standpoint, degenerate 
 forms, as they do not reproduce themselves except by artificial fertil- 
 ization. This comes from their having been grown for a long series 
 of years under unnatural conditions. 
 
 All species of the natural order, Cucurbitaceas, to which the cucum- 
 ber belongs, finds a congenial home in warm climates and on dry soils. 
 The farther they are removed from these conditions the less seed they 
 will produce, and the vitality of which will be proportionately lower. 
 At the same time nature is always true to her first principle, self-pre 
 servation. To that end greater protection is given to the germs of 
 future generations. 
 
 The outer covering of seeds is for their preservation or protection 
 while in the infant state, and at maturity these coverings dry up or 
 decay and disappear. These coverings are adapted by nature to the 
 plant's necessities ; if but little protection is required, only little will 
 be given. With all vine seeds, the less seed there is produced the 
 greater is its value for the production of the crop, as the flesh is the 
 part consumed ; and it invariably follows that the greater amount of 
 the one, the less there will be of the other. Therefore, the best fruits 
 of the vine family are those with the least or lowest reproductive 
 qualities. Gardeners with keen observation note the fact that the 
 older melon, cucumber, and squash seeds, are — without having lost 
 their germinating power — the better, as the proportion of flesh to the 
 seed is greater, and the vines are more productive of fruit and less in- 
 clined to throw out branches. The older the seed the lower is its 
 vitality, and the greater is nature's effort to preserve it. As the care- 
 ful mother doubly protects the feeble child against cold, so Mother 
 Nature protects the seeds of low vitality with extra covering. The 
 melon has more flesh when grown from old seed, because of its low 
 vitality. 
 
 The same is notably true with the egg plant, which is a native of 
 North Africa and the East Indies. In these warm climates the fruit 
 grows from four to five inches in diameter, and abounds with seed, 
 filling the flesh nearly to the rind. As its cultivation extends north- 
 ward the fruit increases in size, while the amount of seed diminishes. 
 Thus, Nature guards her productions by enlarging the pericarp or fruit, 
 in order that the seeds may be better protected against cold, which 
 would destroy their vitality. The variety known as the New York 
 Improved Purple, grown from seeds raised as far north as New York 
 City, yield a crop, both as regards size and quantity, far in excess of 
 the plants grown from seeds produced in the Southern States. The 
 
22 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 reason for this is obvious. Nature, being a strict economist, does not 
 work in the interest either of the seedsman or the market gardener. 
 Her object and sole aim is to preserve and perpetuate the species ; and 
 when the plant has furnished the proper amount of seed nothing 
 further is required of it. If a plant grown in a temperate climate pro- 
 duces in a single fruit only one-fourth the quantity of seeds which it 
 usually yields in a warm climate, it follows that four times the num- 
 ber of fruits must be produced to accomplish the desired result. And 
 this is what the egg plant does at the North, when raised from 
 Northern-grown seed. As before stated, plants from Northern-grown 
 seed produce more fruit but less seed ; so, too, is the seed less vigor- 
 ous. Long Island-grown seed will rarely test above sixty in germinat- 
 ing, when fresh ; besides, nearly all Northern-grown seeds of this 
 variety of egg plant are small and shrunken, while that grown at the 
 South is large and plump, and will invariable give a more satisfactory 
 test of germination. As is the case with many other kinds of vege- 
 tables, the conditions that are favorable for the production of the fruit 
 are unfavorable for the production of good samples of seed and a yield 
 satisfactory to the grower. 
 
 A more familiar illustration of this principle may be seen in the 
 history of the development of the cabbage. Changes in form, through 
 climatic influences, are shown to have been greater in this than with 
 any other vegetable. In a wild state the parent of our cultivated 
 forms of cabbage has but few leaves, which are loosely arranged, but 
 all that are necessary to protect the germ of the coming season's growth, 
 which is to produce seed for the perpetuation of the species. When 
 taken to a colder climate more protection becomes necessary. This is 
 furnished by additional leaves, which are of a finer texture and more 
 compactly arranged. The result of this care is the solid heads of our 
 present varieties of cabbages. From two or three distinct types intro- 
 duced from Holland early in this century a large number of varieties, 
 more or less distinct, have been produced wholly by careful, and, in 
 many instances, systematic selection.; To more clearly illustrate this 
 principle let us note some of the points in the development of forms, 
 where the cabbage is grown to the greatest perfection. Long Island is 
 probably the most congenial home of the cabbage to be found in this 
 or any other country. Nowhere else is it so generally grown or of a 
 better quality. And here is where the greatest number of truly dis- 
 tinct varieties have originated. There is probably a greater variety of 
 soil to be found in close proximity here than in any other part of our 
 country. On the one side is a heavy but triable loam, capable of pro- 
 
SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 23 
 
 daring enormous crops. On the other side it is of a light, sandy 
 character, with but little recuperative strength. Intermediate is, in 
 sections, a turfy and sandy loam, and beneath all is a gravelly sub- 
 soil, a condition best suited for cabbages. 
 
 In most countries there are certain districts and some particular 
 farms which are famous for the production of some special crop and 
 where the same is extensively cultivated. In such localities there are 
 usually to be found some men who are leaders in their principal in- 
 dustry ; they are regarded as authorities and their advice is taken on 
 all matters that pertain to their calling. This is the case on Long 
 Island in regard to cabbage, where certain farmers possessing a re- 
 markable degree of intelligence, and who are close observers and 
 thinkers as well as workers, have made the growing of cabbage a spe- 
 ciality. These men have made selection as a choice in regard to form 
 and habit a study. They have chosen for a purpose, either as regards 
 earliness or lateness, or for the development of a desired form. Per- 
 sistent labor and watchful care in this direction have been the means 
 of producing the best strains or varieties of cabbage in- cultivation. 
 
 While variations of climate produce wonderful changes in vegetable 
 forms, it is a well-established fact that any vegetable grown in a given 
 soil will assume a very different form when grown on either a heavier 
 or a lighter one. This has been shown in a remarkable degree with 
 the cabbage. A given variety grown lor a long number of years on a 
 heavy soil, with a liberal supply of plant food, proper care in growing 
 the plants and in transplanting them, and constant cultivation until the 
 crop is matured, will develop a type remarkable for size and vigor, with 
 excellent keeping qualities, and be what is known as a Late Flat Dutch 
 or Drumhead cabbage. On the other hand, tqke the same stock seed, 
 grow it on a light sandy soil, under the same climatic influences, with 
 the same care in cultivation, always selecting with a view to earliness 
 and solidity and the result will be in the same number of years a 
 variety of the same general form but of smaller size and very much 
 earlier. Again, a soil intermediate in character, from the same stock, 
 during the same period, with the same care in selection, will give a 
 variety intermediate in character as well as in period of growth. Un- 
 der such conditions have been produced the several varieties introduced 
 from Long Island. 
 
 It is an established principle in agriculture that a sandy soil is favor- 
 able for an early growth, and a heavy soil for a continuous growth. 
 Early and late, large and small, varieties are not to be expected from 
 the same soil and under the same conditions of growth, both natural 
 
24 SELECTION IN SEED GEO WING. ' 
 
 and artificial. It must of necessity take a longer time to grow a head 
 of cabbage weighing twenty pounds than one half the size. I have 
 thus far spoken of the development of the cabbage by selection under 
 natural conditions, but there are other methods employed by the 
 specialists. These are of an artificial character and have been material 
 helps in selection. When these specialists harvest their stock seed 
 they examine each plant carefully before cutting it, and if the seed is 
 of large size it is rejected, because they hold that such seeds will make 
 leaves instead of heads. Besides that, these men will not use seed 
 until it is at least three years old ; for the same reason they will not use 
 large seed. This statement corroborates my assertion " that the con- 
 ditions favorable for the production of the fruit are unfavorable for the 
 production of a good sample of seed." I may, however, add that a 
 handsome sample is not always a good sample, always excepting in- 
 stances, as in the cereals, where the seed is the part consumed. 
 
 In the whole list of garden vegetables there is none so susceptible to 
 improvement as the tomato ; none better pays good attention ; none 
 shows neglect jnore quickly, both in quantity and quality of fruit. It 
 is, moreover, capable, by careful selection, of the highest development, 
 and will as quickly deteriorate if the same care in selection that was 
 given to produce a variety is not continually employed to preserve it. 
 It is generally supposed that the varieties have a natural tendency to 
 deteriorate, which makes it necessary to be constantly oh the watch for 
 new varieties, which have their parentage in cross-fertilization and are 
 developed by selection. This theory is both absolutely true and wholly 
 false, although this statement may seem paradoxical. I have 
 endeavored to show the marked effect upon vegetable growth of 
 climatic influences, together with the character of the soil. But the 
 tomato is more sensitive to change than any other vegetable with which 
 I am acquainted, and it is more erratic, too, than any other. On my 
 own grounds I have had the Ignotum, since its first introduction, and 
 with me it is the most perfect and most desirable of any of the vast 
 number of varieties. It is perfectly smooth, of good size, ripens evenly 
 and well up to the stem, the substance is more solid than that of most 
 others and is perfectly tender. An intelligent grower in this section 
 has given it special attention for seed purposes, and it continues to grow 
 in favor. From the same seed bed for the past two seasons plants were 
 taken a distance of ten miles and grown on nearly the same character 
 of soil, and under precisely the same conditions of climate, while the 
 cultivation in the two sections was alike of the highest order, but here 
 this variety was a total failure ; the fruit was deeply ribbed, irregular 
 
SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 25 
 
 in shape, ripened irregularly, and the vines grew in all manner of ways, 
 produced but little fruit, and this was worthless. Mr. Hallock, the 
 successful grower, states that he has heard similar reports from other 
 sections. 
 
 On the other hand, during the past two years I have visited two 
 gardens, at least one hundred and fifty miles apart, where since the 
 Trophy was first introduced no other variety lias been grown, and during 
 the twenty-five years this variety has constantly grown in favor. The 
 fruits are more even in size and shape ; they ripen up to the stem per- 
 fectly, and, what is more important, they ripen to the center and pro- 
 duce but little seed. A fault with this tomato when first introduced 
 was that it did not ripen to the center, which was invariably a little 
 hard . 
 
 These two instances are related to justify my assertion that there is 
 and is not a natural tendency toward deterioration. What they may 
 or may not be depends wholly upon circumstances. This theory being 
 established, what is the lesson ? Plainly, that, especially for seed pur- 
 poses, the tomato should never be grown excepting under conditions 
 where, with good cultivation, it will remain true to type. That there 
 is a great difference in varieties in this respect cannot be questioned. 
 For instance, where the Ignotum signally failed the Trophy and the 
 Favorite were both satisfactory. This is one of the difficulties the 
 seedsman has to encounter, and for which there is no preventive. But 
 there is one thing he does or should know — viz., the price usually paid 
 the grower is not in harmony with the principle of selection, but rather 
 the actual cause of deterioration. Difficult as the problem may be of 
 solution, it is evident that the best directed efforts are not always 
 crowned with success, and that the best possible selection for a given 
 locality may be disappointing in another. 
 
 Few vegetables show so great a change in their eating qualities as 
 our sweet corn. There are, relatively, but few localities where it 
 reaches its limit of perfection. Selection of place, to secure'the best, 
 is quite as important as to select with the view of an improved type. 
 It is poorest when grown on a light, sandy soil, and best when grown 
 in a moderately heavy loam and disintegrated shale. To show how the 
 soil affects quality, take an ear grown in Connecticut, its congenial 
 home, and plant one-third of its grain on the sandy soil of Long Island, 
 one-third on the heavy soil, and the remainder where it grew, and there 
 will be three distinct qualities. The same grown but a few years 
 in the southern sections of our country develops a distinct and worth 
 less type as a vegetable. What is true of the vegetables mentioned is 
 
26 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 true of all others, which shows the importance of selection in all its 
 phases. 
 
 It has often been demonstrated that when any given type has been 
 developed by selection, either rapidly or slowly, under favorable con 
 ditions of soil and climate, it will as rapidly revert when grown under 
 reversed conditions. It is also true that any form that will materially 
 revert when grown under changed conditions for a few years will pro- 
 portionately change in one year. This will, in a measure, account for 
 the deterioration of varieties where the stock seed has been grown 
 under different conditions from where the type originated. In most in- 
 stances one year's growth will not materially change a type, but in all 
 cases where a type is to be preserved it requires the same care in selec- 
 tion and cultivation and other conditions under which it originated. 
 
 Many persons maintain that a renewal or change of seeds is abso- 
 lutely necessary. This may or may not be so. All depends upon cir- 
 cumstances. In a locality where a certain type can easily be kept up 
 and improved by selection a change of seed is not only unnecessary, but 
 unwise, and the only safe course to pursue is to procure stocks from a 
 locality where it reaches the greatest perfection — it matters not 
 whether it be in our own State, country, or continent. 
 
 In a country so vast and varied as ours, where the setting sun of the 
 East is the rising sun of the West ; where in the North there is rarely 
 a month without a frost and at the South rarely a month with one ; 
 where the soil in one locality is the most productive, in another the 
 reverse, and this same, too, in close proximity — the seedsman has 
 difficulties to contend with that are entirely unknown in any other 
 country. He must have a knowledge of selection sufficient to enable 
 him to choose from every section of country such types as are best 
 adapted to its various conditions of climate and soil. This is no easy 
 task when, as demonstrated, varieties show such marked changes, when 
 grown but a few miles apart, apparently with the same climatic influ- 
 ences, and where there is but little difference in the character of the 
 soil. The aim of the seedsman is to procure the best quality at the 
 least possible cost, but in their efforts competition is an antagonistic 
 force that is quite apt to counteract the best motives. 
 
SEED GROWING IN DENMARK. 
 
 BY J. PEDEBSEN-BJERGAARD, of Copenhagen. 
 
 [Portions of a Papee Read Before the Seedsmen's Session ov The World's 
 horticulturax congress, chicago, august 17. 1893.] 
 
 THE time at my disposal will only allow me to touch upon some of 
 the host ascertained facts and such methods of investigation 
 and experiment as have led to progress and improvement in 
 various ways, and which, I hope, will be found of practical value to 
 the horticultural and agricultural world in general. 
 
 Denmark being preeminently an agricultural country, the growing 
 of grain has all through her history been one of the most important 
 pursuits other population. Until dairy farming commenced to attain 
 its present high development, a very great proportion of the grain grown 
 was carried off from the farm, and its exportation to foreign countries 
 formed the chief source of the national revenue. Now the greater part 
 of the production of grain is consumed on the farm for stock feeding 
 and for transformation into the more valuable dairy products, while 
 the fertility of the soil is being kept up or even improved by means of 
 the greatly enlarged and well fed stocks of cattle and other domestic 
 animals. 
 
 But the importance of the best possible grain-crops has not dimin- 
 ished, but rather increased, by the said radical change in the system 
 of farming. Any attempt at improvement of the cereals or improved 
 methods of utilizing them has, therefore, found a hearty support from 
 the proper authorities and been readily appreciated by practical agri- 
 culturists. Private endeavors in this direction had been made for 
 some time, and new varieties of different cereals had to some extent 
 been introduced, but more extensive, thorough, and well-planned efforts 
 for improving the cereal products may be dated from 1880, when the 
 Royal Danish Agricultural Society (the Danish name of which is 
 Det kongelige danske Landhus-holdnings selskab) appointed a com- 
 mittee for instituting cultural and maltiug experiments in order to solve 
 
 27 
 
28 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 a great number of questions relating to the most profitable production 
 of malt- barley. Two years later, in 1882, a similar committee was 
 appointed by the said Society with the view of planning and conduct- 
 ing comparative field experiments, and grinding and baking tests, 
 with a number of critically chosen varieties of w T heat. At the start, 
 the wheat committee had two objects in view : First, to point out the 
 varieties of wheat which, with the greatest possible productiveness, 
 might combine the best possible general quality and hardiness to the 
 frosts of winter ; and, secondly, to throw light upon the influence of the 
 conditions relating to the cultivation of the growing crop in the direc- 
 tion of promoting or diminishing the desired quality. 
 
 Oats occupy by far the largest area of the cereal crops in Denmark, 
 almost nine times as large as the wheat or the malt-barley crop, and 
 nearly twice as large as the crop of other barley or of rye. The crop 
 being of so comparatively great importance, untiring efforts have been 
 made for a number of years to discover new and better varieties or im- 
 prove older, good sorts, by good cultivation and strict selection of stock 
 grain. Almost every variety of European and American origin has 
 been tested. Very prominent for large yield both of straw and grain 
 of excellent quality are two well-developed varieties : " Grenaa " and 
 ' ' Island ' ' oats, both of Danish origin. ' ' Provsti ' ' oats of good strains, 
 " Beseler " " Bestehorn,' n and "Heine" oats have all proved themselves 
 very productive. 
 
 ******** 
 
 As dairy -farming more and more became the chief agricultural source 
 of revenue in Denmark, it soon became evident that successful dairy- 
 farming could not be carried on without a liberal feeding with roots 
 during the winter. Prominent practical agriculturists and the agri- 
 cultural press have used every opportunity to convince the masses of 
 less wide-awake farmers of the well-ascertained fact that by no other 
 means, by the growing of no other kind of crop, can such large quanti- 
 ties of just the right kind of nourishment for milch cows or for rearing 
 pigs and fattening live stock be produced. The areas of land devoted 
 to the growing of root crops have, in consequence of this sound teaching 
 and the conspicuous good results attained by its practice, year by year 
 increased at a considerable rate. 
 
 Originally, root seeds were exclusively imported from foreign 
 countries, but soon a movement was set about by private parties, liber- 
 ally supported by patriotic institutions, for home production of seed of 
 the most popular varieties of roots, and for ascertaining which were 
 the most valuable for different soils, and how they could be developed 
 
SEED GROWING IN DENMARK. 29 
 
 to greater perfection with regard to uniformity of type and habit, 
 greater productiveness, etc. Gradually some of the most popular 
 varieties of mangolds, especially, have been considerably improved, 
 by breeding out the tendency to " run to seed," "long necks," and 
 " side roots," etc. 
 
 A very important question arose a few years ago, namely : as to the 
 methods to pursue in order to produce roots with a higher percentage of 
 dry substance, and consequently of sugar, the most important ingredi- 
 ent, to which the various root-crops owe their value. A wide aud 
 rational view was taken of this subject. The plans for experiments 
 and investigations were very practical, and aimed at ascertaining the 
 following points for each variety or strain included in the experiments, 
 viz.: 1, The quantity, the number of cwts., harvested from a given 
 area ; 2, average weight of the roots from different soils ; 3, the spe- 
 cific weight of the roots and their contents in percentage of dry sub- 
 stance ; 4, the percentage of sugar of each variety or strain of roots 
 for several years. 
 **#**-::- * * * * 
 
 The bulk of a root crop is only one side of the question. The main 
 question is : How can the farmer produce the greatest possi- 
 ble QUANTITY OF VALUABLE NOURISHMENT, IN THIS CASE SUGAR, 
 for his milch-cows and other lire-stock on a certain area, at the lowest pos- 
 sible cost? 
 
 In order to illustrate the importance of keeping an eye on the actual 
 contents of nutrient matter in the roots, I beg permission to adduce two 
 extreme examples : A lot of mangold seed of the Long Yellow variety, 
 imported from Scotland, and distributed among Danish farmers in 
 
 WE have arranged with Mr. Pedersen=Bjergaard that upon his arrival 
 in Denmark he should secure for us a few cwt. of seed of either 
 the new Mangel or new Sugar Beet, for cattle feeding, to which 
 reference is here made. We have left it to his judgment upon further in= 
 quiry as to the results of the Danish crops of roots this year to decide 
 which would be the better variety to introduce in America. At the time 
 of going to press we have not yet learned which he has secured, but can 
 rely upon his sending us seed of one or the other. A packet of this seed 
 will be sent gratuitously to any reader of this book interested in the im= 
 portant subject of root crops for stock feeding who will cut off this portion 
 of the book with his name and address on the opposite side, agreeing to 
 carefully test same. W. A. B. & CO. 
 
30 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 1892, gave the large yield of 945 cwt. of roots per acre on a clayey soil ; 
 the sugar percentage was 3.8, and the calculated quantity of sugar per 
 acre was 36. 3 cwt. Now another example : A new variety of mangold, 
 produced in Denmark by rational crossing and careful breeding for a 
 number of years, a variety not yet named and not yet brought into the 
 market, produced 777 cwt. of roots per acre, which, to a superficial 
 view, would indicate an inferiority in yield to the Long Yellow of 
 about 18 per cent. But the percentage of sugar in this unnamed new 
 variety was 9.3 per cent, and the production of sugar per acre — 
 calculated upon the basis of the yield of roots and the percentage of 
 sugar — was 72 cwt., practically double the quantity produced by the 
 Long Yellow. Another new variety — a sugar-beet for stock-feeding, 
 grown under the same conditions as the Long Yellow, and in the same 
 year— yielded 407 cwt. of roots per acre ; the analysis showed 10.4 
 per cent, of sugar, and the production of sugar per acre was 42.5 cwt.* 
 This seems to me a very interesting example of the value of scientific 
 methods in practical agriculture. But for the analysis of the contents of 
 sugar in the varieties of mangolds here compared, the Long Yellow would 
 have been considered far superior to the sugar beet, the yield in bulk of 
 which was only about 43 per cent, of that of the Long Yellow, and 
 still the new sugar-beet produced 15.6 per cent, more sugar to the area 
 occupied ; and then what a difference in the amount of work expended 
 in lifting, transporting, storing, and feeding these two varieties of 
 roots ! 
 
 Besides the varieties of mangolds to which I have referred, several 
 other new varieties of great promise have of late years been produced 
 in Denmark. In developing these new varieties the aim has not only 
 
 * See offer in foot-note on page 29. 
 
 Jf ftJTO to thoroughly test seed of the new Mangel or 
 Sugar Beet, for cattle feeding, from Denmark, to be sent 
 me free by W. Atlee Burpee & Co. 
 
 Name, 
 
 P. O., 
 
 County, State, 
 
SEED GROWING IN DENMAUK. 31 
 
 been to increase the percentage of sugar, but the highest possible per- 
 fection has been kept in view on the different points to which I have 
 already referred. In choosing varieties for crossing the endeavor has 
 been, alongside of other desirable properties, to develop a habit of 
 growth of the roots above the ground, which greatly facilitates the harvest- 
 in;/ of the crop in a clean .state, in contradistinction from those varieties 
 that penetrate deeply into the soil, which involves much more trouble 
 and work in lifting. 
 
 One of the seed-crops in Denmark that at the present day is best 
 known and most generally appreciated outside of the boundaries 
 of the little northern country is the cauliflower. For many years 
 Denmark has produced steadily increasing quantities of cauliflower- 
 seed of a superior quality. Formerly the crops of this seed were 
 almost entirely disposed of to leading centers of the seed trade in 
 Europe, whence the seeds were distributed to various parte of the 
 globe, but of recent years the larger and more prominent seed-mer- 
 chants in different countries, and especially in the United States, have 
 supplied their wants of this article direct from the source of produc 
 tion. 
 
 It must here be remarked that with a few exceptions only one variety 
 of cauliflower is grown for seed in Denmark. The strains may differ, 
 and will differ more or less according to the locality in which they are 
 grown and the care bestowed upon the management of the crop. But 
 however the strains may vary in some more or less essential respects, 
 they almost all belong to one type, viz. : the Early Dwarf Erfurt. But 
 the strains which, under varying conditions, may have developed may 
 vary, sometimes considerably. It is a well-known fact among experi- 
 enced cauliflower seed-growers that hardly any vegetable or cultivated 
 plant is more liable to deviate and deteriorate. It requires skill and 
 experience to select the proper type of plants for seed in order to keep 
 up the high standard of the variety in point of earliness, dwarf habit, 
 sure heading, size, solidity, grain; and pure white color of the head.* 
 
 * During a visit to Denmark in 1887 we personally inspected fields of 
 growing cauliflower in company with Mr. Pedersen-Bjergaard. We were most 
 favorably impressed with the crop of one grower who had intelligently selected 
 his strain of seed for sixteen years. This we arranged to secure, and to distin- 
 guish this special strain introduced it in America as Burpee's Best Early. 
 No cauliflower seed we have handled has given equal satisfaction, and each 
 year since Mr. Pedersen-Bjergaard has carefully inspected the growing crop 
 and seen that the quality was maintained in the seed. — W. A. B. A Co. 
 
32 SELECTION IN SEED GBO WING. 
 
 As experience has proved, and as is now pretty generally known, 
 the natural conditions of Denmark for growing cauliflower seed to the 
 highest perfection are not surpassed, if equaled, in any other country, 
 as far as the Early Dwarf Erfurt type of varieties is concerned. This 
 is probably mainly due to the high northern latitude of the country, 
 the near proximity of the salt water on all sides, and the compara- 
 tively moist and cool state of the atmosphere. Whether the almost 
 continual breezes from the surrounding seas have a share of influence 
 in giving stamina to the seed I dare not assert, but think that such is 
 very likely the case. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that the further north the variety of cauli- 
 flower seed here in question is grown and brought to perfect develop- 
 ment, the better results will the seeds generally give, with regard to 
 sure heading, early maturity, etc., than when sown in more southern lati- 
 tudes, and warmer climates. 
 
 The cauliflower ought to be much more generally grown by every 
 farmer and every owner of even a small kitchen-garden than at present, 
 and it ought to constitute a much more frequent part of the bill-of- 
 fare in every household, rich or poor. It is one of the most nourishing, 
 easily digestible, delicious, and easily and quickly prepared vegetables 
 grown. There are scores of recipes for cooking this most delicate 
 esculent. While cabbages require four and one-half hours for digestion, 
 cauliflowers can be digested in the course of two hours, and may be 
 enjoyed with benefit by persons to whom cabbage would be ruinous 
 owing to week digestive organs. 
 
 Although Denmark does not aspire to ever becoming recognized as 
 one of the great seed producing countries of the world, and, indeed, 
 must look to more genial climes for a great variety of seed for her 
 own planting, yet, I think, horticulturists and agriculturists generally 
 will agree that for the production of seed of the important vegetable 
 last named, and of certain hard}'' and productive grains and valuable 
 grasses for special purposes, the very situation and climate of Denmark 
 give her peculiar advantages. 
 
AMERICAN SEED GROWING. 
 
 By C. C. MOKSE, of California. 
 
 [Essay Read Before the Seedsmen's Session of the World's Auxiliary 
 Horticultural Congress at Chicago, August 17, 1893.] 
 
 IN the presentation of this paper it seems to me that an elaborate 
 history of early-seed growing is not expected of me nor many de- 
 tails of well-known and approved methods ; hut rather some criti- 
 cisms upon some questionable practices, and commendation of such 
 methods used by growers and seedsmen as should be approved, as well 
 as what I believe to be some of the practical attainments of the near 
 future. 
 
 All will agree that great advancement has been made in the pro- 
 duction and distribution of garden seeds within this generation, for 
 seed growing is taking definite shape as rapidly as any science that is 
 before the world to-day, aud I expect as many changes within the 
 next decade as there has been in the last, accelerated with greater 
 possibilities of development. 
 
 Seed growing as a definite business has assumed its position within 
 the memory of most of us. Years ago the gardener would save a little 
 seed — some of it volunteer — some from roots never transplanted ; all 
 from unknown types and unknown varieties ; and frequently after 
 using the best vegetable crop the poorest would be allowed to go to seed 
 and the product then sold or bartered with the neighbors for other 
 kinds grown in the same manner. Of course, there were exceptions 
 to this rule, for some gardeners would intelligently select the best 
 vegetables, having the points of excellence well in mind, and would 
 continue to select and grow some good seed, and would improve the 
 types as fast as nature would permit. 
 
 The limited custom of distributing seeds would not admit of much 
 profit to the grower, nor of any extended information to the people, 
 especially to those most interested, since the seed business was carried 
 on in a small, local manner, and the people were not informed by care- 
 fully written catalogues, nor by men traveling over the country in 
 the interest of seed houses. 
 
 3 33 
 
34 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 Only a short time ago carrot seed was delivered with the beards on, 
 and a very poor sample too ; and lettuce seed was poorly cleaned, when 
 half the hulk can now he sent to the chaff pile. In my observations I 
 have seen some growers practicing some things too near the ancient 
 methods to be approved. I have noticed some growing cabbage seed 
 without transplanting after it had headed, and others marketing the 
 head and growing seed from the stump. Some planted onions that 
 had the appearance of having never matured, and allowed lettuce to 
 grow so thickly that the plant could show no definite character, — it 
 would seem with the purpose of producing seed only, rather than pro- 
 moting the quality of the vegetable. 
 
 Nature has provided that the coarsest, hardiest, nearest approach to 
 the wild nature will be the most abundant in the production of seed, 
 while the finest grain and finest flavor will be very shy in producing 
 seed ; and the grower will not proceed very far before he will discover 
 that the best vegetable seed cannot be produced as cheaply as the 
 poorest. The difference is very great, and as long as competition is in 
 price, instead of quality, progress will be greatly hindered, and the 
 efforts of many seedsmen to obtain their supply lowers the cost of 
 growing good seed and will be the greatest hindrance to advancing the 
 quality of many kinds of vegetables. 
 
 The present custom of publishing fine catalogues is doing more to 
 educate the people than any other custom that is before the world to- 
 day. There may be some very extravagant things said in some cata- 
 logues, but they will not be harmful in the end, as they will teach all 
 interested the trend of what is wanted by the public, and enable the 
 producer to cultivate in that direction. These fine catalogues, the 
 system of trial grounds in use by the large houses, the system of large 
 growers subdividing their farms into specialties, each with a foreman, 
 an expert in his division, and the growing conviction that each kind 
 of seed should be produced in a climate where the vegetable attains 
 the highest perfection,— these all tend to raise the character and qual- 
 ity of the vegetable, as well as the sample of seed offered to the public. 
 
 Every seedsman should have as complete a system of trial grounds 
 as possible, where the vegetable can be grown to maturity, as it will 
 quickly teach him who is supplying carefully grown seeds in an intel- 
 ligent manner ; and the person in charge of such grounds should be a 
 man of large and comprehensive ideas, and as free as possible from 
 petty prejudices and favoritisms. 
 
 it is not only to know that the seed germinates well ; furthermore, 
 the finest strains are liable to be of weaker germination than the 
 
AMERICAN SEED GROWING. 35 
 
 coarser varieties. It is not, however, the case with all kinds, and 
 a practical seedsman knows where to draw the line. The demands of 
 some seedsmen who expect seed to germinate nearly 100 per cent, arc 
 a hardship and waste to the grower, and some accepted system should 
 be devised whereby merchantable seed should be understood and 
 agreed upon. 
 
 If we are to increase the seed business, we are first to educate the 
 people how to grow the vegetable in the best manner possible, both as 
 regards productiveness and quality. To some extent vegetables resem- 
 ble fruit — if of good quality and approved by the consumer Large 
 quantities will be raised, and the better the vegetable the more sale- 
 there is effected, and consequently more demand for the seed ; for ex- 
 ample, careful selection has so improved one of our standard varieties 
 of lettuce that it requires the product of thirty acres for our trade, 
 while two acres seemed sufficient fifteen years ago, and I have no 
 doubt the same increase will be expected on many of the other varie- 
 ties if given the same attention. 
 
 Take the history of the tomato as an article of food. Its introduc- 
 tion is within the memory of some of our seedsmen, and now it takes 
 its position with the potato and the cabbage as a common article of 
 food, for by selection and hybridization it has been changed from the 
 little pear-shaped ' ' love apple " to a magnificent fruit, affording a source 
 of great profit to the farmer, gardener, and canner, who put it into the 
 hands of millions of this generation as a delicious article of food, 
 while it was entirely unknown to the generation that preceded us. 
 Perhaps the same can be said of nearly every vegetable we grow. The 
 introduction is not very remote, and the development to the present 
 attainment belongs to this generation. 
 
 Garden seed should and will be grown in a climate that is most 
 favorable to the production of the vegetable. One favorable for the 
 growth of vegetables where the seed is eaten (such as peas, beans, 
 etc.) would be one that induced rapid growth, for we know that the 
 seed is wanted as soon as possible after sowing, as it is the seed only 
 that is sought by the gardener, and it would be difficult to get an 
 early sort where vegetables grow slowly. For the class of vegetables 
 of which the substance is eaten or used (such as lettuce, cabbage, 
 cauliflower, etc.) a climate should be selected where the growth is 
 slow, since the longer the period of running to seed the better, espe- 
 cially so with lettuce and cabbage. If the seed stock in lettuce makes 
 its appearance almost as soon as the lettuce is in head the result is very 
 unsatisfactory, as the quality is regarded as very poor. 
 
36 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 In the climate of California (where my seed farms are located) let- 
 tuce planted in December will grow fairly well all winter and spring, 
 but will not run to seed before July or August, or only about as early as 
 seed planted about Rochester in April. This long time in which seed 
 may mature is very favorable to the character of the plant, and also 
 for half- mature seed. 
 
 Stock seed should never be saved in a year when the crop has suf- 
 fered from hardship in any way, as it tends to run the vegetable 
 toward the hardy side, instead of a fine grain and tender. Very choice 
 vegetables only should be selected for stock seed, of just the type that 
 the grower intends to perpetuate. The type once fixed, he should not 
 deviate from it, and should be prepared when planting the stock seed, so 
 that it will not be necessary to use a poor or injured crop. All vege 
 tables of a root or bulb character should be grown to maturity in the 
 best possible manner, and then taken from the ground to stop the root 
 growth, so that when replanted there will be a fibrous growth, which 
 is the proper development for biennials, and any effort to plant one 
 kind of growth into the other has a tendency to run the plant toward 
 the wild state. 
 
 I believe there is to-day a very worthy and creditable competition 
 in the seed trade to have the very best seeds, finest types, and hon- 
 estly to distribute the same to their customers. The eagerness to seize 
 upon any novelties that are offered seems to convince me that compe- 
 tition in coming years will be solely on the improved vegetable. 
 
 In conclusion allow me to say that California has assumed a very 
 prominent position as a seed-producing location. The business of 
 growing seed there was begun by R. W. Wilson, formerly of Roches- 
 ter, N. Y., who began by growing a few acres of lettuce and onions in 
 1875. From that day the growth of the industry has been most re- 
 markable, until there is being grown to-day no less than 2500 acres of 
 garden seeds, including in large variety onion, lettuce, cabbage, cauli- 
 flower, celery, collards, beet, endive, salsify, parsley, parsnip, leek, 
 spinach, tomato, radish, etc., besides several acres of flower seeds. 
 raised by growers who make a definite business of it. In the southern 
 part of the State a very large acreage is devoted to the culture of 
 beans, including a large proportion of limas. 
 
 My observation as a wholesale grower leads me to believe that there 
 are so many avenues of experiment and study open to the horticulturist 
 that the near future will develop more novelties and higher standards 
 than some of us think it possible to realize. 
 
DISCUSSION OF THE ESSAYS. 37 
 
 From The Florists' Exchange, August 26, 1893. 
 
 DISCUSSION- OF THE ESSAYS. 
 
 MR. WILLIAM MEGGAT, of Connecticut, being called on, 
 said he thought the selection and hybridization of plants: 
 was sometimes carried too far. Take, for instance, the 
 Golden Self-Blanching Celery and White Plume. Some growers per- 
 sisted in discarding all the green plants. His experience had been 
 that if these green plants were weeded out the constitution and size 
 of the vegetable were destroyed, and it was well to have some of them 
 in. He had noticed in the seed-bed where these varieties and some 
 others were sown the seed of the green plant was the largest, had 
 the most vitality, and produced the biggest plants in the seed-bed. 
 Gardeners often took the largest plants and had too large a proportion 
 of green celery, whereas from a second planting, where the smaller 
 plants had time to grow and develop more, he had nearly all of the 
 desired kind. 
 
 In some sections of the country there was a great deal of fault found 
 because the Boston market celery did not sucker as it did near Boston. 
 This he had demonstrated to him by a friend near Boston, who took 
 plants that showed an inclination to sucker in the seed-bed. These 
 plants when transplanted, however, did not sucker. 
 
 fin* word " earliness " did not amount to much. It was very 
 doubtful in his mind whether they were making any progress in that 
 direction. Some people recommended Northern-grown seed because 
 it was hardy and early. Any Northern variety of early vegetable was 
 desirable ; but if they went in for earliness entirely they were likely 
 at times to sacrifice quality and always size. In a great many, if not 
 in all cases, earliness in Vermont or Minnesota was desirable ; but in 
 New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio it did not amount to much, and in 
 the Southern States it amounted to nothing, in his opinion. A certain 
 length of season and a degree of heat were necessary to produce the 
 required vegetable ; and it was impossible to get seed to produce a 
 late as well as an early variety in Southern States where the conditions 
 were the same. As an example, he cited the case of the Lima bean, 
 which grew and flourished luxuriantly in a hot climate. Take the 
 seed of it grown in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and South- 
 ern California, and plant them in the trial grounds, and it was impos- 
 sible to tell which was the earliest. That bean required just such a 
 length of season to grow, no matter where the seed came from. 
 
36 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 One question that had heen suggested by the essays was how they 
 could do away with so many varieties. He thought that could be 
 done by growing only the best of its kind. There were some thirty or 
 forty varieties of early peas ; but those who grew the best would have 
 no difficulty in filling an order. 
 
 While there were some things in the papers read which Mr. Meggat 
 did not agree with, he said they were the most intelligent and learned 
 papers he had ever heard. " We American seedsmen want to push on 
 and get better posted in our business ; know the whys and wherefores, 
 and accept nothing for granted. Like the superstitious Connecticut 
 farmers, we have got a great many ridiculous ideas we want to get rid of. 
 We are advancing very rapidly, and, if we push on, I think we will 
 meet with success. " [Applause.] 
 
 In answer to a remark of one essajist, Mr. Meggat said it was bet- 
 ter to select stock at all times from well-developed seed grown at a 
 favorable season. 
 
 Mr. T. W. Wood, of Virginia, rose to speak in defense of the 
 South, because it had not been heard from at all. The South had not 
 been considered a seed-growing district ; everything must be Northern 
 grown. He asked, were they perfectly correct in that? He was in- 
 clined to think that the South had a great deal more in it than they 
 imagined, and would probably develop to greater proportions in seed 
 growing than they expected. As an example, he cited the case of the 
 potato. Only four or five years ago everybody wanted a Northern- 
 grown potato ; but what was it to day ? The market gardeners of 
 Pennsylvania and New York were demanding Southern-grown second- 
 crop seed, and why? Because they had found that they would pro- 
 duce a larger crop of potatoes. These now formed a large trade, 
 whereas five years ago a man would have been looked on as having 
 no knowledge of potatoes had he offered Southern grown seed. 
 
 Take beans as another instance. The Northern-grown pole bean 
 was a loose-clinging variety ; it did not cling to the pole well, the 
 Southern-grown bean clinging much better. 
 
 He also differed in opinion regarding the egg plant. Where the 
 plant came to the greatest perfection, there, he believed, was the 
 place to get the seed. Much finer and better germinating seed could 
 be obtained in the South than in New York or New England. 
 
 Professor Wittmack * said they found in Europe that very good 
 
 * Prof. Dr. L. Wittmack, of Berlin, representative of the German Govern- 
 ment, also read a paper on " Horticultural Displays at Future World's Fairs." 
 
DISCUSSION OF THE ESSA YS. 39 
 
 plants and vegetables were obtained from some seed mown in south- 
 ern countries. While that was true of these, there were other coun- 
 tries in Europe where, owing to the coldness of the climate, it was 
 impossible to ripen seeds. The German seed raising- firms of Benary, 
 Eattge & Schmidt, and others, had parties located in the countries on 
 tlic Mediterranean, Algiers, and southern part of France who grew 
 special seeds for them. Such seeds would not ripen in Germany, still 
 good results were obtained when they were grown in the North. 
 The seed of the best small-headed cauliflower raised in Germany was 
 obtained from Italy. They also imported much of their cauliflower 
 seed from Denmark. They must not think that seed grown in the 
 South would not give as good vegetables as that raised in the North. 
 
 Mons. de Vilmorin thought that the question did not at all differ 
 from the principle laid down, viz., that the place where a .seed of any 
 vegetable was grown was the place where that vegetable would be 
 produced in its most perfect and best developed form. Some seeds, 
 many of them, might be harvested very conveniently in the North ; 
 but with some other kinds growing seed away from the South would 
 mean no seed at all. They in France and Europe could not expect to 
 grow well and cheaply tomatoes or any of those very early plants ex- 
 ec] »t on the shores of the Mediterranean, and even south of the Medi- 
 terranean, because north of it the necessary amount of heat in the 
 summer was deficient. 
 
 Mr. A. W. Livingston, of Iowa, referred to what Mr. Allen had 
 said in his paper about selection of the first ripe fruit for seed. He 
 found in his selection of corn that in the first ripe fruit two ears to a 
 stalk were often obtained, but he would never select that kind for 
 his stock seed unless it was in a country where it. required early 
 planting. The corn was generally short, there was no such ear on it 
 as there would be on the next later kind. 
 
 With regard to running out of certain plants and certain kinds, he 
 had a sweet corn which he had had for forty-two years. It was just 
 as good to day as it ever was ; but he selected the seed. The Paragou 
 Tomato he had grown for twenty-five years, and it was just as good to- 
 day as it was when he brought it to maturity. He did not think there 
 was much danger of crops running out if proper selection was made. 
 
 Mr. Livingston then narrated a case where he had bought melons of 
 the Cuban Queen variety in Iowa, which to all appearance were first- 
 rate goods, but on being cut they were not fit to eat ; they had no 
 taste at all. He thought the difficulty there lay in the soil. 
 
40 SELECTION IN SEED GEO WING. 
 
 Professor Bailey, of Cornell, was the next speaker. He eulogized 
 M. de Vilmorin's essay ; it endorsed some truths presented by that 
 gentleman's father in a most remarkable paper on the heredity of 
 plants, which appeared some years ago. 
 
 He was pleased to hear M. Vilmorin speak of his methods, and to 
 note that he felt that heredity meant selection, — meant a law in regard 
 to the improvement of plants. Professor Bailey was fully prepared to 
 say he believed there was nothing random in nature. Wherever a 
 variety of plant was got it came from some law which might be un- 
 known ; it should be our purpose to find out the laws that govern the 
 selection and improvement of plants. 
 
 He had been called on as the originator of the Ignotum Tomato, 
 which had been received in some parts with favor. He took no credit 
 as the originator ; it simply chanced to come up on their grounds, 
 starting from a very inferior sort, and by selecting for two or three 
 years he had succeeded in fixing the type. It might seem that this 
 Ignotum Tomato, coming as a chance seedling, from a parentage very 
 inferior after all, was a mere matter of chance, with no connection ap- 
 proaching to scientific law. He could not tell where the Ignotum came 
 from ; there was some reason for its coming. Having once found a 
 variation, it was the province of man to experiment with it and to en- 
 deavor to mature and fix that variation so that the plant could be 
 relied on and offered as a commodity, and this was where skill and 
 experience could be brought to bear. Men could not do much in the 
 way of originating variation in plants ; that lay beyond their control ; 
 but so much depended on the selection of variations, when they did 
 appear, that they ought to try to induce a good variation first. The 
 tendency to variation was itself a variation which they must fix ; they 
 must fix that heredity in the plant just as much as they would color, 
 size, or fragrance ; they must endeavor to continue the tendency to 
 reproduce itself, and when they had done that, they would have ac- 
 complished one of the most important things that could be accomplished 
 by selection. 
 
 The speaker then went on to treat of the physiological nature of the 
 paper. For various reasons given it indicated that plants were 
 amenable to external conditions and especially amenable to selection. 
 The more crossing in ancestry, the longer will it take to fix the varia- 
 tion. He thought cross breeding was carried too far ; that by promis 
 cuous crossing instability was introduced which it would take several 
 generations to breed out. 
 
THE SEEDSMAN'S TRIAL GROUNDS. 
 
 BY W. ATLEE BURPEE. 
 
 [Head before the Convention of the American Seed Trade Association, 
 Chicago, August 14, 1893.] 
 
 TO thoroughly know seeds and the relative value of their pro- 
 ducts, both of his own and his competitor's stocks, to learn the 
 comparative merits of newly introduced or proposed novelties, 
 carefully conducted trial grounds are to the progressive seedsman and 
 his a>si>tants the opeu book of nature. By trial grounds we mean 
 the planting and cultivation of the various grains, grasses, vegetables, 
 and flowers in the open field or garden, each sample being numbered 
 and careful records being kept from notes taken at various stages of 
 growth. 
 
 Sonic years ago we were amused at the claim of a large seed house 
 (no longer in existence) that immediately upon receipt they took three 
 samples from each bag of every lot of seed,— one from the top, another 
 from the middle, and a third from the bottom of the bag, — to test for 
 germinating power. Every careful seedsman will, of course, on ware- 
 housing his seeds, test a sample of each lot for vitality, but he won Id 
 be a poor seedsman who obtained his supplies from such doubtful 
 sources that the bottom of the bag should not be uniform with the 
 top or middle. Furthermore, this very emphasis laid, as a guarantee 
 to planters, upon the thorough vitality test of the seed, brings out 
 prominently a question as to the quality of the produce. That seeds 
 grow is of prime importance, but this can be proven even by the 
 planter himself before he sows the seed ; of equal, nay, of greater, 
 importance is the knowledge that the seeds planted will yield the 
 best products of their kind. This knowledge can only be attained by 
 thorough comparative growing trials conducted each year under con- 
 ditions as nearly as possible the same as the seeds will receive in 
 the gardens, fields, hot-beds, or greenhouses of the private planter or 
 market gardener. 
 
 41 
 
42 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 The object iu the conduct of trial grounds is the attainment of 
 knowledge — truth ; but, as already intimated, this is threefold in its 
 purposes. 
 
 (i) To Know the Seeds He Sells. 
 
 A seedsman may travel all over the world, inspecting the various 
 crops for which he has contracted, but he cannot know that he 
 actually receives the products of the fields he has inspected unless 
 after arrival their trueness to type is proved in his trial grounds. 
 It is only by such tests that he can insure against inferior stocks 
 or wrong varieties. Mistakes are by no means always to be attri- 
 buted to intention to deceive, as they often result from ignorance 
 or carelessness. Just a point in illustration : The past season, 
 as was universal, our crops of American Wonders and Premium 
 Gem Peas were short, and we sought to make up our requirements 
 by purchase. We gladly bought a lot of each from a fellow mem- 
 ber of this Association, who freely told us the name of the grower 
 in Canada, a man of good repute, whose stocks he said he knew were 
 right from personal inspection while growing. A row of each of 
 these, as of every other lot, was, of course, planted at Fordhook, re- 
 vealing to us, as well as to the astonished seedsman who sold the 
 peas, a fine, straight sample of Premium Gems labeled American 
 Wonders. Both lots were identical. The seedsman promptly offered 
 to refund the difference in price, but that could not recompense for the 
 harm done, nor relieve our chagrin that a hundred or more customers 
 the past season received from us Premium Gem Peas under the name 
 of American Wonders. This seedsman has no trial grounds and might 
 never have known of his mistake had we not acquainted him with the 
 fact, for retail buyers do not always complain, some from ignorance 
 of what the true type should be, and others because they conclude that 
 the substitution of a cheaper variety was dishonestly done for the sake 
 of a larger profit. 
 
 To-day as we write, comes to hand that excellent little paper, 
 " Gleanings in Bee Culture," for July 15th, where, on page 573, a writer 
 from Missouri, in the course of an interesting article on gardening 
 says : — 
 
 " Talk about peas ! I always thought one had to plant 
 a big lot of seed to get a few peas ; but I have changed my 
 
 mind this year. American Wonder, 's catalogue 
 
 says, grow six to eight inches tall, so I gave them no 
 
THE SEEDSMAN'S TRIAL GROUNDS. 43 
 
 bush to climb on, and they just sprawled out all over 
 tlic ground some 18 to 24 inches, but, nevertheless, they 
 gave us plenty of nice peas." 
 
 To this the versatile editor, who is himself something of a seedsman', 
 replies : — 
 
 " Very good, friend M. Some of the rest of us have 
 found that the American Wonder peas, fortius year, grow 
 a little more than six to eight inches. I do not know 
 whether it is the extra soil up in Michigan, where they 
 are raised, or whether they have got tired of being dwarfs, 
 and have gone back to old times, or what is the matter. 
 Nobody has complained, that I know of, because they give 
 a very large crop of extra nice peas, even if they do go 
 over more ground than the orthodox ones ought to do." 
 
 Others of you may have had similar experiences, and this may ex- 
 plain why in a season when American Wonders were scarcely a third 
 of a crop there were still " enough to go round." Is it well that no- 
 body complained ? An experienced market gardener certainly would 
 either have complained most bitterly, or quietly concluded that the 
 seedsman intentionally deceived him in selling Gems for Wonders. 
 
 Such cases show the value of trials in testing stocks that have been 
 purchased, but comparative trials are of equal importance in testing 
 stocks either of the seedsman's own growing or of his own contract 
 crops, while as a check upon the contract growers they are invaluable, 
 being most conducive toward insuring careful "rogueing" and 
 toward counteracting the temptation which a grower often meets in 
 the event of a short crop, to purchase other crops, which can be handled 
 at a profitable margin, but which are hardly of the gilt-edge type the 
 careful seedsman would want to supply to his market garden trade. 
 Furthermore, the trial grounds reveal clearly the result of selection of 
 stock seed in any given line ; they also make clear a point upon which 
 there is frequently uncertainty on the part pf the seedsman as to the 
 best sections in which to grow their general supplies or the stock seed 
 of certain varieties. For instance, it is a common practice in the seed 
 trade to grow pole beans tar north, in field culture without the use of 
 poles. Our trials for years past have indicated that this is very detri- 
 mental to the climbing tendencies of pole beans. We have noticed 
 that White Creaseback Beans, obtained originally from Louisiana and 
 climbing most luxuriantly, largely lose this habit of sticking closely to 
 
44 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 the poles after being grown far north in field crops without poles. We 
 could mention many other instances where our trial grounds have 
 shown that some sections (largely used for seed-growing) are decidedly 
 unfavorable to the production of the best seeds of certain vegetables. 
 The luxurious growth which carrots and turnips attain in California 
 and Southern Europe seem to give an inbred tendency to seeds of these 
 vegetables grown there to reproduce a superabundance of tops at the 
 expense of large, well-formed roots. Similar genial climates, so con- 
 ducive to luxuriant vegetation, also produce a superabundance of 
 foliage (outside leaves) to cabbages. These are simply a few instances 
 from observation of stocks grown in different sections ; of equal import- 
 ance is the careful study of the various strains of seeds, to note 
 whether the selection of stock from year to year is being intelligently 
 made and the types continually maintained or improved. 
 
 Well-conducted yearly tests of one's own stocks are necessary, not 
 only for the purposes named, but are also useful in giving the seeds- 
 man the best possible school in which to educate a trained class of em- 
 ployees. Every year some of the most promising of our young men 
 are drafted to the farm for the planting, growing, and harvesting sea- 
 son. Some of these work in the trial grounds and some among the 
 field crops growing for seed, but all have free access to the " finder," 
 by which they can learn to know the various vegetables, grains, grasses, 
 and flowers. When such a man returns to the store, a packet of seed 
 is more to him than merely one of thousands tied up and stored in 
 hundreds, he being familiar not only with the plant, habit of growth, 
 and use of the plant or flower, but also with the distinctive charac- 
 teristics of the varieties. Young men with such training make intelli- 
 gent counter salesmen and rational thinking clerks in filling mail 
 orders, sometimes eventually developing a capacity for taking charge 
 of a department or of starting in business for themselves. 
 
 (2) To Know His Competitor's Stocks. 
 
 The wide-awake seedsman will not be content merely to test the 
 strains of seeds which he himself is selling, but will also want to know 
 how they compare with seed of the same varieties sold by other growers. 
 This is a most important use of the trial grounds, for it may be that 
 one of the seedsman's competitors has devoted very special attention 
 to a given variety, and while his own stock of this variety may be good, 
 his competitor's may be better. The seedsman who annually conducts 
 thorough trials is not obliged to wait for a falling off of trade to tell 
 him that other houses are selling better strains of seeds of any varieties 
 
THE SEEDSMAN'S TRIAL GROUNDS. 45 
 
 than his own. Such comparative trials will keep the progressive 
 seedsman thoroughly in touch with the work of growers, both at 
 home and abroad, and will sometimes show that he should drop 
 stocks which he considered first-class and adopt in their stead others 
 which are better. This is an age of progress, and it should be the aim 
 of every seed grower to attain in each variety of seed as nearly to per- 
 fection as possible ; one man, often a market gardener, may develop an 
 improved strain of a given specialty ; it is the business of the competent 
 seedsman to secure the best of each variety. 
 
 As might be expected in a business so modern in its development, 
 the standard of quality for seeds is continually advancing ; twenty 
 years ago it was comparatively easy to build up a new seed trade by 
 careful attention to ordinary details, as trial grounds were then almost 
 unknown and the public were not so critical iu their purchase of seeds. 
 To-day the conditions are changed, and while many purchasers are still 
 ignorant of the types of the different varieties, a large proportion can 
 discriminate, not only between varieties, but also between good seeds 
 and better. So steadily is the public advancing in ability to discrimi- 
 nate, that to-day it is hardly possible for jobbers in the seed trade, 
 either at home or abroad, to do a large trade merely because of low 
 prices ; the retail dealer and florist is fast learning that he can only 
 hold and extend his trade in seeds by handling such as are known to 
 be true to name and of first-class quality. We think it will not be 
 long before the better class of retail dealers will demand as their right 
 the inspection of the trial grounds of the seedsman from whom they 
 obtain their supplies, so that they in their turn can intelligently recom- 
 mend the seeds which they handle. 
 
 (3) To Learn the Comparative Merits of Newly Introduced or Pro- 
 posed Novelties. 
 
 The keen appetite for "novelties" now leads every hybridizer or 
 discoverer, particularly European growers, to herald any variation or 
 improvement as something new and extremely valuable, painting its 
 description in glowing colors. To appease this appetite too many seeds- 
 men take the so-called new varieties under the introducers' descriptions 
 and herald them broadcast throughout the land, without any personal 
 knowledge as to their respective merits or demerits. This is seldom 
 safe. A seedsman's customers have the right to assume that they can 
 trust the descriptions in his catalogue. Never, unless in very excep- 
 tional cases, should the seedsman run the risk of betraying this confi- 
 dence by recommending a variety of which he knows nothing person- 
 
46 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 ally ; it is better to wait a year to test the variety and prove whether 
 it be of real merit or not. It is hardly necessary to enlarge upon the 
 importance of this, as we all know how many of the novelties continu- 
 ally introduced either fail to be of distinct character or to show marked 
 improvement upon existing varieties. We are glad to notice that 
 much attention has lately been devoted by Horticultural Associations 
 and State experiment stations to condemning the pernicious practice of 
 renaming varieties for the sake of securing "novelties;'' this is par- 
 ticularly objectionable, but is clearly revealed to the seedsman who 
 studies his thorough trial grounds. The past spring we had in our 
 trial grounds five samples under five different names, from different 
 seed houses, of an early lettuce, all of which proved to be the same, 
 and annually many of the so-called new varieties received from home 
 and foreign growers prove identical with old varieties with winch, per- 
 haps, as doubtless is often the case, the supposed introducer is not ac- 
 quainted. From a mere pecuniary standpoint it never " pays" in the 
 long run to introduce or recommend a novelty unless it is both distinct 
 and valuable : it is far better to hold the confidence of one's customers 
 so that they will recognize the fact that reliance can be placed in the 
 statements of their favorite seedsman. 
 
 Again, it too often occurs that old varieties of established excellence 
 are dropped to make room for newer sorts which the seedsman thinks 
 will sell better. Kindly permit a personal case to illustrate: we all 
 know that many varieties of cabbage have been introduced in the past 
 twelve years, we ourselves having introduced several, and yet in all 
 that time we have been careful to select and maintain the Surehead 
 Cabbage, introduced seventeen years ago, and the fact that we still 
 annually sell 20,000 packages more of this variety than of any other 
 demonstrates the advisability of never dropping a variety because it is 
 old, — unless there is something new to fill the same place that is really 
 better. Although given centuries before trial grounds were thought 
 of, there can be no better rule for their conduct to day than " To prove 
 all things, and hold fast to that which is good." 
 
 By thorough trial grounds giving comparative tests of one's own 
 stock with his competitor's stock and with everything new that is 
 offered, the seedsman is enabled, by careful comparison, to detect 
 synonymous varieties. In the generally well-edited catalogue of a 
 prominent house we were surprised to notice the following paragraph 
 in the introduction this season : — 
 
 " In our last year's catalogue we endeavored to offer a 
 
THE SEEDSMAN'S TRIAL GROUNDS. 47 
 
 less number of varieties selecting only those that were 
 the very best, but we have discovered that the extent of 
 this country would not admit of the condensation of 
 varieties, as many of them, although really duplicates 
 of other sorts, have their local popularity, and arc only 
 known by local names. These duplications can only be 
 reduced by practical experience and thorough testing." 
 
 Now, others may differ with us, but we honestly think it should be 
 the practice of the seed trade never to sell the same variety of seed 
 under two names, but where necessary, besides the proper name to 
 give the synonyms in brackets. The closing sentence of the paragraph 
 just read says that "These duplications can only be reduced by 
 practical experience and thorough testing : "—such thorough testing, 
 with experience to judge, certainly should be the business of the seeds- 
 man. Eed Valentine Beans are generally well known throughout the 
 country, and the fact that they are sold in the Baltimore market as Red 
 Harrow should not induce the seedsman to catalogue Red Marrow 
 separately, thus misleading some with the impression that it is a 
 different bean. A seeming exception may rightly be made in so 
 important an item as extra early peas, of which each seedsman 
 naturally strives to have the earliest and best strain, and as a sign of 
 his faith can properly attach his name, but this is no excuse for offer- 
 ing, as do several catalogues, extra early peas under half a dozen 
 or more different names, when there cannot be in the warehouse of any 
 seedsman so many distinct strains of what was originally known as 
 Philadelphia Extra Early Peas. We thoroughly advocate giving all 
 the synonymous names in brackets where there is no doubt of the 
 identity, except in the case of names given by a few houses who make 
 re-naming so common a practice that only the most ignorant can be 
 deceived. 
 
 A greatly needed reform that can only be accomplished by a thorough 
 system of comparative trials is the securing of accurate descriptions 
 and life-like illustrations of varieties. Carelessness in this respect has 
 been altogether too prevalent. For instance, a few years ago the 
 orginator of the Banquet Melon was quite exercised as to whether he 
 really had the novelty that he believed, because a seedsman used in his 
 catalogue an illustration of a melon from a photograph that was iden- 
 tically the same in outer appearance as the Banquet, and nowhere in 
 his description did he mention the color of the flesh. Comparative 
 trial demonstrated the fact that the other melon was green fleshed 
 
48 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 while the Banquet was salmon-fleshed. Such carelessness in descrip- 
 tion is inexcusable, but how much more frequently do we find inac- 
 curacy in illustration. This year we are growing Nott's Excelsior 
 Peas, having become convinced of their merit, and, with a view to 
 cataloguing same next year, had photographs made from which to have 
 an illustration engraved. In doing this we referred to the catalogues 
 of the two seedsmen (both recognized as honorable houses) from whom 
 we had obtained the seed for planting, to see in what manner they illus- 
 trated the variety. One we found used evidently a fancy engraving, 
 as it did not in any respect resemble the variety, the peas being well- 
 rounded, whereas they are always so crowded together in the pods that 
 they are flattened at the sides, like the Potato Lima. The other firm 
 had used (probably unknowingly) to represent Nott's Excelsior an illus- 
 tration which was engraved from a photograph taken some years ago 
 of our Quantity Pea at the time of its introduction. 
 
 As Chairman of your Committee of the Seed Division of the Horti- 
 cultural Congress, to open on Wednesday, I can promise several very 
 interesting papers, by experienced European and American horticul- 
 turists, hence I will avoid the temptation to trespass further upon your 
 time in mentioning many interesting facts revealed in our trial grounds 
 this year and past seasons. In closing, however, with the hope that 
 others who have trial grounds may do likewise, I would extend to the 
 members of this Association who may travel East, an invitation to stop 
 over in Philadelphia and take an easy hour's journey to Fordhook 
 Farm, where our trials will be freely shown and methods fully 
 explained. 
 
FROM THE ESSAYS AT CHICAGO, 
 AUGUST, 1893.* 
 
 WHEN the White City has become a thing of the past, with 
 all trace of where the magnificent buildings once stood com- 
 pletely obliterated, the sayings of the wise men who spoke 
 at the Congresses will still be remembered. Our own Horticultural 
 Congress, led by not only our own wise men, but those also from the 
 far-off East, was a grand gathering, and a few extracts from the pro- 
 ceedings, here reproduced, will not be out of order at this time. 
 
 Professor Trelease on "Technical Horticultural Education." 
 
 Specialism is the only way by which rapid progress can be made, 
 and the world now expects it ; but unless care is taken it dwarfs the 
 individual, rendering him narrow, and at the same time opinionated, 
 and to this extent lessens his usefulness and defeats its own end. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Technical training is intended primarily to make specialists. It is 
 eminently practical, and its utility is measured by its practical results. 
 
 * * * 
 
 There does not exist a single American school of which I know that 
 has a systematic, well-balanced course in the theory and practice of 
 horticulture, from which any considerable number of practical horti- 
 culturists are graduated, nor do I see any present prospects of a change 
 in this respect. * * * 
 
 For several years members of the Society of American Florists and 
 other intelligent and thoughtful men have been agitating the question 
 of a school of floriculture. Their business is one of increasing dignity 
 and profit, and there is room for the employment in it of a great deal 
 of taste, technical knowledge, and intelligence. * * * 
 
 Mr. Dyer, the director of Kew Gardens, does not consider schools of 
 gardening beneficial. He looks on gardening as a trade, best learned 
 in the practice ; and it must be admitted that many of the best gar- 
 
 * Under this heading The Florists' Exchange, September 30, 1893, gives 
 a number of well-chosen extracts. Those from papers read at other sessions 
 than the Seedsmen's Division we take pleasure in reprinting. We have 
 omitted the extracts from President Bonney's opening address, and also from 
 the papers and remarks of Messrs Vilmorin, Allen, Burpee, Morse, Meggat, and 
 Professor Bailey, as these will be found printed in full in the preceding pages. 
 — W. A. B. & Co. 
 
 4 49 
 
50 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 deners have risen through the great seed and plant establishments, 
 without any schooling other than that of e very-day routine and home 
 reading. * * * 
 
 Brawn is not so well paid as braiu because it is more abuudant, and 
 few intelligent men, with the power to rise higher, are willing to set 
 for their ideal the lowest standard in their profession. * * * 
 
 Of theoretical gardeners I shall say nothing, because the demand for 
 them as a class is not very great, but there is a steady demand for 
 both laborers and educated, practical men. * * * 
 
 The kernel of the problem of horticultural education is to teach the 
 trade of gardening well, as a trade, and to supplement it with thought- 
 fulness, observation and a taste for experimenting, and enough learn- 
 ing to bring the man in touch with his fellows and to enable him to 
 make his attainments useful to them as well as to himself. * * * 
 
 The obstacle in the way of evening classes (which at present is the 
 best method open) is that few cities can supply for them students 
 enough to warrant the labor and expense of maintaining them and 
 supplying them with good teachers. A fair substitute might be 
 organized among the youuger members of every large plant establish- 
 ment. * * * 
 
 No isolated school can keep together a body of good horticulturists 
 as teachers unless well endowed and well patronized by paying 
 students. * * * 
 
 To be successful in America at the present day, a school of garden- 
 ing must possess ample facilities for growing plants of many kinds in 
 considerable quantities. It must be equipped with the necessary 
 laboratory appliances, and it must count manual labor as an essential 
 part of its course, and limit other instruction to strictly practical sub- 
 jects, taught almost exclusively in the field and the laboratory. It 
 cannot put the age of admission too high nor the requirements for 
 admission, nor insist upon too long a period of practical experience as 
 an entrance requirement. * * * 
 
 I do not see how in this country a gardening course extending over 
 more than two years can be made to attract and hold many students, 
 unless free tuition and some further gratuity is given, but while a two 
 years' course must sacrifice some of the manual labor of a longer 
 course, I believe that it would be very helpful to those wishing to 
 become practical gardeners or florists — it being, of course, understood 
 that it must be rounded out by further practical experience obtained 
 in good establishments either before entrance or after the completion 
 of the course. * * * 
 
EXTRACTS FROM ESSAYS. 51 
 
 It a sufficient number of pupils could be counted upon, I believe 
 that private or governmental endowment for a school of gardening 
 worthy of the name could bo secured within a few years. Is it 
 wanted and would it be used? 
 
 I most heartily wish that you may succeed in establishing higher 
 schools of gardening : but first begin with the lower ones, thai is the 
 most important subject.— Dr. Wittmack, of Germany. 
 
 France had only two grades of horticultural schools ; they did not 
 possess, neither did they see any urgent necessity for, a lower grade of 
 gardeners, whose aspirations did not go beyond being useful and 
 efficient workmen. For these evening lectures were provided, either 
 through the horticultural societies, or simply by the efforts of em- 
 ployers. — Henri de Vilmorin, Paris. 
 
 Agriculture must succeed because it is the foundation upon which 
 rests all other industries ; but it did not succeed in comparison with 
 mechanical pursuits, therefore, something must be wrong with agri- 
 culture all the country over. * * This country had not come to the 
 period to which the French, Germans, and other European nations 
 had got, when we needed especial training in the minute laws of 
 horticultural work. — Professor Bailey. 
 
 Supt. McMillan, of Buffalo, on " Improvement and Care of Public 
 
 Grounds." 
 
 The fine qualities of many of our native shrubs are largely ignored 
 in selecting plants for ornamental shrubberies. For many fine kinds 
 there is so little demand that nurserymen do not propagate them, and 
 those they do handle maybe imported plants raised abroad from ex- 
 ported seed. This may be partly due to divers conditions here of 
 climate and cost of labor ; but it shows public indifference to a re- 
 markable extent. * * * 
 
 Planting for autumn effect is worthy of experiment on a large 
 scale, but it is rarely considered. * * * 
 
 The elements of natural beauty in the distinctive forms and in the 
 foliage of tree and shrub in the spring and summer stages also receive 
 scant attention in general. The difference in size and shape, and 
 habit of growth, and in the shades of green are infinite, and the 
 manner in which they mingle and blend in combination is natural 
 beauty of the highest order. * * * 
 
52 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 Broad-leaved evergreen shrubs are also a distinctive class of great 
 beauty when their native qualities can be fully displayed by thrifty, 
 vigorous growth. Their bright foliage is especially valuable in winter 
 if it be above a zero temperature. * * * 
 
 Every plant is beautiful or not in proportion to the vigor of its 
 growth — the best measure of a healthy condition. * * * 
 
 In the planting for landscape effect, the future development, both 
 near and far, must be taken into account. * * * 
 
 A prominent floral display of exotic plants is not in character with 
 the general tone of a rural landscape. The contrast is usually too 
 strong to be agreeable, but in small grounds of a formal type, or in 
 sections of a larger ground, where artificial constructions are promi- 
 nent, the luxury of a flower garden will be more fully enjoyed. * * * 
 
 The taste which perceives the scenic value of such places and con- 
 serves them for the public enjoyment is a promising sign of the 
 strength of public sentiment, which, in any community, may be de- 
 pended on to support all intelligent effort in the improvement of the 
 public ground, to conserve and develop its natural beauty. 
 
 Besides the natural and architectural schools of gardening there was 
 another which was fast occupying a place in horticultural history, 
 and that was the "Composite." That was a school which recognized 
 virtues in both*the other schools. * * * 
 
 The great French landscape gardener, Andre, had expressed it as his 
 conviction that the composite style of gardening would become the 
 most popular because it was the prettiest, and was willing to recog- 
 nize beauty, whether of form or color or growth, or in any other 
 way. * * * 
 
 I know that the school which Mr. McMillan represents objects to all 
 colored foliage, such as is produced by the purple beech, Prunus pis- 
 sardi, the golden Sambucus, and others. They find no place in their 
 schools of gardening for such things. Are they not intrinsically 
 beautiful, and would they hurt or would they help the adornment of 
 such places ? * * * 
 
 In view of the effect that flowers had on civilization he was sur- 
 prised that the school of gardening known as the " natural " school 
 ignored color altogether in the production of the landscape which it 
 was their duty to create. — Robert Craig. 
 
 A good landscape gardener ought to blend color with trees in the 
 
EXTRA CTS FROM ESSA YS. 53 
 
 shape of pretty flowers. A variety of color was exceedingly useful, 
 and made a lasting impression on the eye. — M. DE VlLMORlN. 
 
 Gardening, it seemed to him, was not a mere matter of form ; a 
 mere matter of reproduction of contours, of circles, or of undulations ; 
 it was a matter of form and color blended in such a way as to produce 
 the greatest pleasure to the greatest number of people, and to be 
 restful and fascinating. — Prof. Trelease. 
 
 There was a time and a place for everything, and it seemed to him 
 that the so-called natural style of gardening was detrimental to the 
 florist. He then went on to describe the exactments of the naturalistic 
 school. Everybody had a right to ornament his garden as he pleased. 
 A good many things had been said about the formality of the present 
 style of gardening, but he wished to say that it had done more to 
 create a love for horticulture and to promote horticulture than any 
 other style. —John Thorpe. 
 
 The taste in the arrangement of decorative flowers in the United 
 States was entirely different from that of Germany. In some respects 
 he thought the American decorations were a little too realistic and very 
 often too stiff, and he wished that these might be improved in this 
 country. — Dr. WlTTMACK. 
 
 Nature makes use of color in a very easy and informal way, and if 
 we are to introduce masses of color among trees and shrubberies in 
 such places where naturalistic treatment has improved them, then we 
 should introduce them in a naturalistic way, in groups which are 
 irregular, as if they occur there naturally. Do not scatter them over a 
 landscape, for the} 7 will be like so many blots of ink upon the whole 
 scene. — Prof. Bailey. 
 
 Charles D. Garfield on " Relation of Experiment Stations to 
 Horticulture." 
 
 He asked them to give the experiment stations enough work to do. 
 
 Commercial success was endangered by fussing with experiments. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The demand was for new things and better methods in horticulture. 
 
 * * * 
 
54 SELECTION IN SEED GEO WING. 
 
 The duty of commercial horticulturists to these stations was to ask 
 questions. * * * 
 
 They should not ask for results too quickly. The fact that they 
 had not been patient had led to the greatest errors. An experiment 
 was not an experiment until it had been carried to its culmination. 
 
 * •* * 
 
 Commercial horticulture had a right to demand intelligent and en- 
 thusiastic laborers in these stations. * * * 
 
 We should demand that those who have charge of these stations shall 
 ' select wisely and well men who are to conduct them. * * * 
 
 The work of these stations was scientific, educational, and practical. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Most of the bulletins sent out by the experiment stations were not 
 fit to read, and were cast aside by him because they contained such 
 poor material. * * * 
 
 An experiment worker had no right to be in the station unless he 
 started out in the beginning and said he would be honest in everything 
 that he did or said. When that was the case he was fit for the Kingdom 
 of Heaven. And he sometimes thought that experiment stations fitted 
 men, if they started out with this idea, for the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 Prof. Dr. L. Wittmack on " Horticultural Displays at Future 
 World's Fairs." 
 
 If ever it should be necessary to demonstrate the utility — nay, the 
 necessity — of gardening, World's Fairs would prove it. How would 
 the most splendid buildings look if they had no beautiful environments? 
 A World's Fair without landscape is like a picture without a frame. 
 
 -x * ■* 
 
 Grace to the architect, grace to the landscape gardener, the Colum- 
 bian World's Fair is a splendor that never has been seen before. * * 
 
 I come to a point which in future World's Fairs should be taken 
 into consideration. I mean the whole of Horticulture, be it for decor- 
 ating purposes or exhibiting purposes, if single or collective exhibits, 
 must lie in one hand ; there must be no division, no landscape garden- 
 ing and horticulture, as here. * * * 
 
 We come to another important question — the judges. Here in 
 Chicago has been adopted, as you all know, the principle of a single 
 judge, who shall make a brief report of the articles that have been ex- 
 amined by him, and recommend an award or not. The departmental 
 jury, his colleagues, shall then confirm or refuse his decision. It has 
 
EXTRACTS FROM ESSAYS. Z>5 
 
 been said in favor of the single judge principle that a single judge will 
 be more careful when he knows that he alone by his signature shall 
 give the verdict. It is also said that the work will go on quicker. 
 But I think that there is much more danger than benefit in this sys- 
 tem. * * * 
 
 A keen judge will perhaps say " no award," another will say one 
 award is Wetter than none. In this way the awards may be multiplied 
 in number and diminished in their value. * * * 
 
 In horticulture the judges have accepted the principle of a single 
 judge, thinking it would be better to continue adopting the method in 
 use since the month of March, when the first cyclamens were examined 
 by the judge. I fear that this system will have bad consequences for 
 some of the exhibitors. The jury which shall confirm the report of 
 the single judge from March to July has not seen the articles ; it must, 
 in most cases, rely on the single judge. * * * 
 
 But for the jury in horticulture arises still another difficulty. In all 
 other departments, members of a World's Fair jury may assemble at a 
 given date and examine their objects, but in horticulture that has to be 
 done all the year round ; therefore a jury for horticulture should be or- 
 ganized at the beginning of the exposition. The president and secretary 
 should reside in the city, or in the neighborhood of that city in which 
 the exposition takes place, that their examinations maybe continued. 
 There should be a sufficient number of other gentlemen of that same 
 country in which the exposition is to be held, who might assemble 
 every fortnight, and if there are horticultural representatives of foreign 
 countries who stay the whole time, they might also enter as judges for 
 the whole fair. Other foreign judges may be requested to come when 
 their specialty will be best displayed. * * * 
 
 As many exhibitors will exhibit several times, first, perhaps, lily of 
 the valley, then roses, afterwards asters, there should be given points 
 for each exhibition and these points added together, a certain number 
 of points, say 100, being the standard, which must be the rate during 
 the whole of the exhibition for getting an award. But what award ? 
 Shall there in future be only one award in the form of a medal of 
 bronze, as here? Would it not be better to make gold, silver, and 
 bronze medals of different grades ? I think the latter way is the better, 
 the man obtaining 100 points to receive a bronze medal, the one obtain- 
 ing 200 points a silver medal, and a man obtaining 500 to GOO points a 
 gold medal. * * * 
 
 In general I think our gardeners are accustomed to too many medals 
 at one exposition. At horticultural exhibitions it may happen that a 
 
56 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 man gets five or ten prizes. At industrial expositions the manufacturer 
 gets but one medal. * * * 
 
 A gardener expects one for lily of the valley, one for syringa, and 
 one for roses. Still. I must confess that there is a little difference be 
 tween the article of the goldsmith and of the gardener, as each flower 
 often forms a specialty. Nevertheless, I think a gardener will be more 
 satisfied when he gets one higher medal for all these collections together, 
 than several lower ones. * * * 
 
 A difference should be made between prizes and awards ; prizes may 
 be given each fortnight for a collection of begonias, roses, etc., but 
 awards should only be given for the whole together at the end of the 
 fair. * * * 
 
 As soon as the plants can be judged and the judgments confirmed, a 
 label should be posted on the plants showing who is the owner. As it 
 is now, the gardeners who have exhibited primroses or cyclamen in the 
 spring and others to July, have received no benefits from their exhibits 
 for this year ; in fact, no award has been made, and it is still a secret. 
 Gardeners might have done business if a label of award had been 
 placed on their plants. 
 
 E. V. Hallock on " Knowledge in the Seed Trade." 
 
 The giving of credit is a matter in which great judgment should be 
 exercised, both as to men and circumstances. The knowledge of where 
 to find the various stocks where climatic conditions meet the require- 
 ments of the particular trade is also essential. * * * 
 
 Knowledge was also a barrier to fraud. There were men who did 
 not care what they sold, who, as a rule, were deterred from fraud when 
 they knew the buyer was master of his business. Foreigners used to 
 prey upon the ignorance of buyers, but that time had passed. He 
 wanted to warn all foreign dealers and growers that we were beyond 
 the point where we did not know what we bought. 
 
 An Apostrophe to Flora. 
 
 Of the many gifts bestowed upon man the first and greatest of all 
 was woman, and as she stands before us in harmonious apparel is she 
 any the less beautiful in our eyes because of the sparkle of the dia- 
 mond, the gleam of the emerald or the ruby, as their shafts of Color 
 scintillate before oure3 r es? Do we admire her less because of the 
 chaste and delicate pearls which encircle her throat ? I think not. To 
 be sure, these are not necessities. Life can be sustained and enjoyed 
 
EXTRACTS FROM ESSAYS. 57 
 
 without theni ; but left to herself to choose, she instinctively adds to 
 her personal charms by drawing upon Nature's treasure-house.— M. A. 
 Hunt, before Florists 1 Session. 
 
 Robert Craig on " The Present of Floriculture." 
 
 Of one thing we can rest assured, as long as the love of the beautiful 
 inheres in man, floriculture shall not lack ardent supporters. * ■* * 
 
 In the great rush of American life the garden offers rest. * * * 
 Much has lately been written, and well written, in the leading horti- 
 cultural journals, of the adornment of the spacious grounds surround- 
 ing the homes of the wealthy, but not enough in the way of suggestions 
 as to the tasteful planting and correct culture of the smaller gardens 
 of those not so endowed with worldly possessions ; there is not room in 
 these little spots for extensive landscape effects ; they must be adorned 
 in a more or less formal way, but such arrangement need not violate 
 any principle of true art. * * * 
 
 Besides the natural style of landscape gardening there is another 
 known as the architectural or formal ; the latter recognizes that there 
 exists in the minds of many a love of symmetry and regularity, and 
 the outcome is the production of formal beds in various attractive pat- 
 terns, which, when the work is skillfully done, are much admired. 
 * * * 
 
 There is another school of gardening known as the composite, which is 
 willing to recognize merit in both of the other schools and whose present 
 problem is to decide on the proper location and relations of illustrations 
 of both methods, cheerfully recognizing that each is right in its own 
 place. No less an authority than the distinguished French landscape 
 gardener, Andre, has recently said: "To the composite style, which 
 results from a mingling of the other two, under favorable conditions, 
 belongs the future of gardening art. " * * * 
 
 Some of the most gratifying exhibits at the World's Fair are the 
 greenhouses and conservatories, which is the result of conferences be- 
 tween the best cultivators of plants and the greatest architects, the 
 outcome being that the structures are beautiful from an architectural 
 standpoint and eminently adapted to the purpose required. * 
 
 Another hopeful sign of the times is the interest taken in the im- 
 proved varieties of outdoor bedding plants, such as roses, geraniums, 
 carnations, verbenas, etc. This is notable in the case of the dwarf 
 large-flowering cannas of the ' ' Crozy ' ' type. These latter are destined 
 
58 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 to play a great part in the future of American gardening ; they not 
 only produce a continuation of brilliant bloom, but are also graceful 
 in foliage and growth. * * * 
 
 The canna is a grand plant, and its improvement is yet in its in- 
 fancy. Like the chrysanthemum, it is destined to grow in popularity. 
 
 * * ¥r 
 
 While outdoor gardening is receiving due attention, there was never 
 a time when plants under glass and flowers for cutting were grown in 
 such perfection, the improved greenhouses of to-day contributing 
 greatly to the result. The growing interest in aquatic plants is espe- 
 cially noticeable ; their cultivation is yearly better understood. * * * 
 
 The modern trade catalogue must not be forgotten among the 
 agencies which advance horticulture. They are educational in a high 
 degree, and their illustrations are faithful to nature more than at any 
 previous time. * * * 
 
 It is to be hoped that botanical gardens will soon be established in 
 several large cities. * * * 
 
 On the whole, the outlook is very encouraging ; it is only necessary 
 for each of us, while being diligent in our own business, to make some 
 pergonal sacrifice for the public good, and to help by our sympathy 
 and work all societies, clubs, and managers of public exhibitions in 
 every reasonable way. 
 
 E. G. Hill on " The Future of Floriculture." 
 
 The word floriculture, strictly defined, means the culture of flowers, 
 but each day gives to it a wider significance ; it means not only the 
 growing of plants and the production of flowers, but it also implies the 
 artistic arrangement of both, either in the embellishment of grounds 
 or the decoration of interiors ; it implies a knowledge of the laws 
 which govern plant life ; an understanding of the soils from which 
 they derive their sustenance ; an acquaintance with their enemies and 
 how to conquer them. 
 
 Wonderful lessons are learned by a study of plant life, if only it is 
 studied seriously ; the artist is taught form, arrangement and color ; 
 pendent branches, trailing vines, glossy foliage, are suggestions of 
 value to the decorator. * * * 
 
 Floriculture has a great future in America, from the fact that the 
 home is the center and citadel of our American civilization. The 
 homes of the future will conserve and support our art. * * * 
 
 One of the greatest educational influences of the times is the work 
 done by the horticultural press in so attractively leading their readers 
 
EXTRACTS FROM ESSAYS. 59 
 
 on to a higher standard of home adornment. In addition to the plants 
 now in general use, we shall see from year to year an increasing 
 demand for the more purely decorative plants, such as palms, dra- 
 ca'nas. pandanus, and crotons for interiors, while the newer trees and 
 shrubs will attract increasing interest. * * * 
 
 Contrast the old country hurying-ground with the modern cemetery, 
 and see what landscape art and floriculture have done ; and this work 
 is only in its infancy, with a wide outlook for the future. * * * 
 
 The successful florist of the future must be an artist as well as a 
 mere grower of plants ; our profession is both an art and a science. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The artistic florist will make his place a model which the average 
 customer may safely copy, not, as now so often seen, an aggregation of 
 ghuss houses, workshops, dirt piles, disorder, and anything but a place 
 of floral beauty. * * * 
 
 Technical schools will do for floriculture what the industrial schools 
 are doing for workers in metals, fabrics, and woods. Such institutions 
 already have a footing in Europe, and their influence is being felt 
 through the young men of the profession. * * * 
 
 The men who elevate their professions are invariably students, 
 whether in or out of school, men who by research and study solve 
 problems and make rough paths straight. * * * 
 
 There is no reason why theory and practice need be divorced in 
 floriculture. I can do no better than quote Mr. A. Whittle's admir- 
 able words at our fourth convention : "When will the world know 
 horticulture to be what it is— a pursuit that requires of its workers 
 constant forethought and continual study ? When gardeners them- 
 selves are willing to lift the class by the grand power of education 
 from the rank of mere artisans, when by the careful and laborious 
 investigation of the secrets of Nature we can advance theories and cite 
 facts — not till then shall we have our place in the world of thought." 
 
 * * * 
 
 It is estimated that the twentieth century will see over a hundred 
 million people north of the Rio Grande ; grant three-tenths of them a 
 love for flowers, and do you see what the floriculture of the future 
 must become? The future shall bring forth the wondrous product of 
 the hybridizer ; new varieties of plants suited to climate and require- 
 ment shall he produce. Great possibilities are in store for us in this 
 direction ; America will, in the near future, produce its Lemoine, 
 Guillot, and Veitch. 
 
From The Florists' Exchange, New York, September 16, 1893. 
 
 MODERN METHODS OF THE SEED TRADE. 
 
 BY C. L. ALLEN. 
 
 THE American seed trade and the growing of seeds as an industry 
 have made rapid progress in our country within the past sixty 
 years. Previous to 1 830 there were but few men in America 
 that were seedsmen by profession. Some of the few had established 
 seed houses that are still an honor to the craft and the nation ; they 
 were growers as well as sellers of seeds, and they figured largely in the 
 development of the industry. With the growth of the country seed 
 houses sprang up rapidly, keeping pace with other classes of business. 
 In most cases the merchants were seed sellers rather than seedsmen ; 
 they bought and sold seeds as they would buy and sell grain, simply 
 by name and from external appearances. There were but few men 
 that knew varieties of other than the more common vegetables, and 
 these men were of foreign birth, and brought with them deep-seated 
 convictions that, while good vegetables and flowers could be grown in 
 this country their seeds could not, and but little effort was made to 
 produce other than those that could not be grown in Europe. 
 
 The seedsmen of that period had but few varieties to offer, and these 
 were accepted without question or thought that there were, or might 
 be, better ones elsewhere. Beyond the narrow limits of the cities, 
 their suburbs, and the larger towns and villages, gardening was done 
 on a limited scale only. But little attention was paid to luxuries, 
 and what were considered as such then, are now regarded necessities. 
 Such sorts as contributed to the support of life were cultivated, and 
 the seeds from these were carefully saved for use the coming year. 
 
 The smaller towns and villages were supplied by the Shakers, who 
 were among the first to distribute seeds throughout the country, and 
 the quantity sold was exceedingly small. The vegetable garden was 
 well ordered when it would furnish marrowfat peas, Mohawk beans, 
 Wethersfield red onions, Early York and Flat Dutch cabbage, Cluster 
 cucumber, Bush and Canada crook-neck squash, and Tuscarora corn. 
 
 60 
 
MODERN METHODS OF THE SEED TRADE. 61 
 
 In the rural districts there was but little money, and that had to meet 
 urgent necessities, and when the garden was planted a friendly inter- 
 change of seeds among neighbors was the practice. 
 
 Contrast the past with the present and note the change ! Scarcely a 
 variety of vegetable that was then grown is now in use, and some 
 species then unknown as vegetables are now the most generally cul- 
 tivated of any in the garden. Seed-growing has become one of the 
 most important industries we have. Our wharves and warehouses 
 then groaned under the weight of seeds coming into this country ; 
 they now groan under the loads going out. Those who now sell seeds 
 arc as a rule, seedsmen, and their business is conducted on that broad 
 scale, and with the zeal and intelligence that is so prominent a feature 
 in all our commercial transactions. They not only buy, sell, and pro- 
 duce, but they know what they are buying, selling, and producing. 
 They fully understand the fundamental principles of agriculture, 
 which includes the development by selection. They understand the 
 causes of variation through climatic influences and conditions of soil ; 
 they know what varieties are best adapted to the varidus conditions 
 that exist in this wide range of country ; they know how and where 
 the best seed is produced. The fact that a given variety is of great 
 value in one section or locality and valueless in another not far dis- 
 tant, is fully understood, which enables them to provide wisely for 
 each locality. 
 
 Herein lies the difference between the seedsman and the man who 
 sells seed. The one sells with a full knowledge of what he is selling, 
 and the other regardless of it. There is but one school where this 
 knowledge can be obtained; that school is the farm or garden, and ex- 
 perience is the teacher. To obtain a comprehensive knowledge of 
 seeds and plants one must become thoroughly acquainted with them ; 
 they must commence with the seed when it is put into the earth and 
 carefully study each metamorphosis until it reproduces itself, and 
 when we consider the vast number of varieties, each having peculiari- 
 ties strictly its own, and requiring conditions suited to it, this is no 
 easy task. To gain this knowledge seedsmen established what are 
 called 
 
 Trial Grounds, 
 
 which are systematic plantings of everything they sell, and what is 
 offered to them for sale, in order to test the relative and intrinsic merits 
 of each. One of the most extensive of these we have ever visited is 
 that of W. Atlee Burpee & Co., at Fordhook Farm. 
 
62 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 This farm is situated near Doylestown, Bucks Co., Pa. ; — the land is 
 rolling, mostly friable loam, underlaid with red sandstone, and inter- 
 mediate in character between a heavy and light soil, the best possible 
 for general trials, and the results will be the same as on the average 
 farms of the country. As all varieties of soils are not to be expected 
 on one farm, the one that is best adapted to the greatest number of 
 varieties offers the greatest advantage for this purpose. 
 
 A visit to this farm is a rare treat to those who are fond of the 
 beautiful in floral forms, but doubly so to those who come to study 
 the plant as a whole. As we called, not to see, but to study methods 
 of cultivation, and the value of what is produced, we note our obser- 
 vations of the objects and results of the trials made there. We take 
 them in the order shown us, as it best illustrates the purposes and 
 methods of Mr. Burpee ; they are as follows : — 
 
 First — Trials of all stocks of vegetable seeds a year previous to their 
 being sent out, in order to test the quality of the product. 
 
 This is the seedsman's sheet anchor; upon it he depends for an ac- 
 curate knowledge of the quality of the seeds he sends out. The im- 
 portance of this cannot be over-estimated. However careful he may 
 be to secure the best stocks, he must of necessity depend upon the 
 growers of all countries, and in many sections of the same country, for 
 his supply, and, while he employs every safeguard possible, he is 
 liable to get stocks that are unsatisfactory. This is particularly true 
 in case of short crops, in which case the growers and wholesale dealers, 
 anxious to fill all orders, are liable to use seeds that are not up to the 
 highest standard. Besides that, climatic influences have much to do 
 in changing the character of types, so that with the greatest possible 
 care results are disappointing. On the other hand, the very best 
 strains of seed, those that give the best satisfaction in one locality, may 
 be worthless in another ; in both cases the seedsman will he held re- 
 sponsible for the results. It is therefore highly important for him to 
 know the true character of the article he sells, and the only way to 
 know is to prove by actual trial just what the seeds will produce. 
 This is done at Fordhook in the most careful and systematic way. Of 
 radishes, beets, turnips, onions, lettuce, and all other vegetable seeds 
 that are usually sown in drills there is a row ten feet in length sown, 
 the soil first being prepared in the best manner, and made as rich as is 
 necessary to produce good results, not with the expectation of great 
 results, but simply to show what the purchaser is to expect from ordi- 
 nary cultivation. Each plant is allowed sufficient room for its perfect 
 
MODERN METHODS OF THE SEED TRA DE. 63 
 
 development, and the same care is given in cultivation that is required 
 in all well-ordered gardens. A record is kept of the date of planting, 
 time of germination, and the conditions of the weather. "When the 
 product is ready for use, the crops are thoroughly inspected, and notes 
 made of size, color, shape, and quality of the vegetahle, and if, from 
 any cause, there is a mixture. If the test proves 'satisfactory, the 
 stock is marked for use; if the reverse, it is discarded, and that with- 
 out regard to its cost. If, because of some unfavorable condition of 
 climate, the test is not up to the standard, another year's trial is given 
 it, the result of which is final. All vine seeds, and such as require 
 much room, are given all they require and are put to the same severe 
 test. 
 
 Second — The testing of the leading seeds sold by competitor* in the 
 trade. 
 
 In warfare the first duty of the general is to ascertain the strength 
 of the enemy ; and the seedsman who is awake to his interests must 
 know just what others in the trade are offering their customers, so 
 that if they have discovered a better variety, or a better source of sup- 
 ply for the same variety, he can avail himself of it. The interest now 
 taken in horticulture has made every gardener a critic, and the seeds- 
 man who has not the best of every thing will soon find himself without 
 a clientage. Here the same care is given the competitor's stocks as 
 with Mr. Burpee's own ; as they are grown for information, they are 
 grown as well as possible, in order that the best may be given. 
 
 In this connection is placed the seeds sold by many of the large dry- 
 goods houses throughout the country, and the trials, to say the least, 
 are quite amusing. These houses buy at the lowest price seeds can 
 be put up for, and sell by the single paper at less than one-half the 
 price a good article costs the dealer. The result shows the utter worth- 
 lessness of the seeds. Of the tests we saw, not one had a single speci- 
 men worthy of the name it bore. Yet there are always innocents 
 enough to buy such seeds. 
 
 Third — To test the quality or product of the various kinds of seeds 
 grown in different countries. 
 
 For the seedsman this trial is the first in importance. Upon this 
 depends wholly his choice in the locality where he is to procure his 
 stocks. The first thought of the seedsman is, Where can the best seeds 
 be procured ? The second is, Where can the best be procured at the 
 lowest price? Seed-growing has become an important industry 
 
64 SELECTIONS IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 throughout the world, and the merchant now obtains his supply not 
 only from the extreme east and west of this country, but also from 
 Europe, Asia, and Africa, and from the isles of the Pacific. 
 
 In common with all other business, competition is so aggressive that 
 in order to keep trade it becomes necessary to buy cheaply — not cheap 
 seeds — but good seeds at the lowest possible price. Formerly the 
 growing of seeds was a profitable industry, more so than any other 
 branch of agriculture, and the tillers of the soil in all parts of the 
 world entered largely into it. In some countries the industry proved 
 very successful, because all the conditions of soil and climate were 
 favorable, and the low price of labor enabled the seed grower to pro- 
 duce cheaply. In these localities, there are always to be found men 
 who are faithful to their trusts, others who are not. In order to select 
 wisely, tests must be made of the various products. To that end the 
 onion seed from the leading growers in California and Connecticut are 
 placed side by side with those grown in other parts of this country and 
 in Europe. All being grown under the same conditions, a comparative 
 test of quality is made that guides aright when orders are placed for a 
 supply. These tests are of immense value to the florist and market 
 gardener, because they know when their seeds are planted just what 
 the results will be under favorable circumstances, providing they per- 
 form well their part. 
 
 Fourth — To test novelties with a view to their introduction. 
 
 The development of taste for horticulture and floriculture has created 
 an immense demand for anything new that is offered, and every known 
 part of the globe has been called upon to contribute from its flora to satisfy 
 this desire. We will say here, the more rare flowers of one country are 
 the common weeds of another. To this fact is due the introduction of 
 some of our common weeds as " rare novelties." Let us take an in- 
 stance. A few years ago some foreign seed houses introduced the 
 Budbeckia of our southern and western prairies — a troublesome weed 
 with a very showy flower — as a rare plant, and our Government seed 
 shop bought of it largely to distribute in States where a fine is imposed 
 for the introduction of just such seeds. Its botanical name hid its 
 true character from all but the few who had made plants a study. 
 
 In order to prove all things and "hold fast that which is good," 
 every " novelty " offered is given the very best possible chance to show 
 its usefulness, in order to know whether the patrons of this firm would 
 be benefited or injured by its introduction. A very large proportion 
 of the new things sent out are disappointing, not because they are not 
 
MODERN METHODS OF THE SEED TRADE. 67 
 
 as beautiful or useful as described, but because our climatic conditions 
 are not favorable for tbeir development. Hence the importance of a 
 test, which is made decisive at Fordhook before any novelty is recom- 
 mended. 
 
 Fifth — To grow for stock seed. 
 
 Stock seed is the seedsman's corner-stone ; his main dependence for a 
 supply of any given variety rests wholly upon having stocks to grow 
 from that are absolutely true to a given type. Years of constant care 
 in selection are necessary to produce a type, and if the same care that 
 was given to procure a type is not employed to preserve it deteriora- 
 tion will soon result. It is highly important, too, to do this work 
 where the variety will, with good cultivation, remain true to type. 
 The best directed efforts in this work are useless if the natural condi- 
 tions of soil and climate are unfavorable. The casual observer has not 
 the slightest appreciation of this work, nor is aware of the amount of 
 labor and constant watchfulness required to keep any type up to a high 
 standard. Each variety must be grown so far from any allied sort that 
 cross fertilization is out of the question. No two varieties of any of the 
 cereals can be safely grown on the same farm, as cross fertilization may 
 occur through the agency of the winds. Vines will suffer in as great a 
 degree through insect visits. 
 
 The growing of stock seed is systematically carried on at Fordhook. 
 Several small plantings, say one acre each, of a new white cucumber 
 were noticed ; these were so far apart that an accident to one would 
 not in any way affect another. These are watched with the greatest 
 care to detect any variation in form or color; should the slightest 
 appear, the plant is at once discarded. And, for this purpose, no plant 
 of any kind is allowed to remain if it has on it any poor specimen of 
 fruits. We cannot go into the detail of this work, but will say that 
 every variety grown in this country for seed purposes is given the same 
 care as the one noticed, which will show the extent of this important 
 work. 
 
 Sixth — The growing of choice annuals for seed purposes. 
 
 The growing of flower seeds is not carried on to any great extent in 
 this country, "because of the high price of labor. Bot there are some 
 things, such as balsams, salvias, zinnias, mignonette, and petunias, 
 that, because the adulteration of seeds is such a common practice, it is 
 necessary for the seedsman to have these grown under his own per- 
 sonal supervision. Of course, all the cheaper grades are imported, but 
 5 
 
68 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 such as the amateur and florist requires must needs be beyond question 
 as to purity, quality, and germinating power. To see the best sorts 
 grown with care, where each plant has sufficient room for develop- 
 ment and an abundant supply of plant food, is to be convinced 
 that what are often considered overdrawn illustrations are practically 
 truthful. 
 
 Seventh — Development by selection. 
 
 There is a natural tendency in plants to "sport" — that is, to assume 
 some new character, either as regards size, color, or vigor. These 
 sports are quite likely to remain constant, but they must be tried 
 thoroughly, and as they appear in each case singly, before there is 
 sufficient stock for purposes of sale, there is sufficient opportunity. 
 But the utmost care must be given them to establish a new type, and 
 a constant watch kept to see if there is no further variation. If, in 
 three or four generations, the type becomes established, a new variety 
 is secured, and it is offered to the public. 
 
 In this department the work of cross fertilization is carried on, 
 which is simply uniting the good qualities of two varieties into one, 
 as in the flower combining the color of one flower with the size or 
 shape of another ; and, too, the flower of a weak plant is introduced to 
 the plant that is vigorous, but with poor flowers. Also, in the vege- 
 table, to unite the esculent properties of the one with the productive 
 properties of the other. After the cross has been effected, the work of 
 selection commences. If the cross has been effectual, there will be as 
 many varieties as there are seeds in the capsules, as such as are worthy 
 of perpetuation are chosen and grown on from year to year, always 
 discarding the undesirable, until finally the desired character has been 
 secured. 
 
 This is the work of the specialist, and it will be valuable just in 
 proportion to the care given. The casual visitor at Fordhook will not 
 see this, because the inventor never shows his work until it is 
 complete, but it is to be found there, going on in a quiet but effective 
 manner. 
 
 Eighth — Educational. 
 
 In any business as large as that of the modern seedsman it is neces- 
 sary to have a large number of reliable young men so educated that 
 they will be capable to fill the highest position in the business. An 
 ordinary clerk in a seed store rarely knows anything about what he 
 sells ; his operations are mechanical, but there must needs be some 
 
MODERN METHODS OF THE SEED TEA Pi:. 69 
 
 one in each department who is perfectly familiar with all the detail- 
 of the business. This requires a large force^ and to be titled for the 
 
 work they must graduate from the trial farm, where they have studied 
 the plant, its habits, and requirements ; they must know if, not about 
 it. The well-ordered trial farm is the curriculum for any young man 
 who wishes to become familiar with every department of horticulture. 
 In one year he will learn more here than during a lifetime in college. 
 By this means Mr. Burpee is enabled to secure an intelligent, well- 
 organized force for the detail of his business. 
 
 Ninth — Testing the vitality of seeds. 
 
 The testing of seeds to show their germinating properties before 
 sending out is a practice of vital importance to seedsmen, and one thai 
 is but seldom systematically practiced. The germinating power of 
 seeds is very variable ; some varieties must be sown as soon as ripe or 
 they will not reproduce the species, as they quickly lose their vitality. 
 Others will retain their germinating powers for a period often or more 
 years, while it is safe to depend upon most seeds for from three to five 
 years. But because seeds on an average retain their vitality for a 
 period of four years when grown and secured under favorable circum- 
 stances, it does not follow that it is safe to sell or plant any seed until 
 a test has been made. There are many latent defects in seeds arising 
 from causes but little understood ; these can only be revealed by bhe 
 crucial test of a germinating bench, where all seeds are tested before 
 being put up in packets for sending out. 
 
 Many seeds may lose their vitality without any marked change in 
 external appearance, a fact that has enabled unscrupulous dealers to 
 adulterate with seeds that have lost their vitality through age, or by 
 mixing with seeds of the same genus that have been purposely treated 
 to destroy vitality. This practice has been carried on to a very great 
 extent, but it is no longer available where thorough tests of germina- 
 tion are made. 
 
 Another very important object in making these tests is to guard 
 against unjust complaints from the buyers. Seeds often fail to 
 grow because j)roper care in sowing has not been given ; too deep plant- 
 ing is often a cause of failure, and planting in soils not properly 
 prepared is a more frequent cause. We have often seen large .sowings 
 destroyed by heavy rains falling just before the young plants were 
 ready to break forth ; these rains packed the soil so hard when it be- 
 came dried by the sun the germs had not sufficient strength to break 
 through, and failure was the result. Failure to germinate, no matter 
 
70 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 from what cause, is generally attributed to the seed, and these com- 
 plaints are of such frequent occurrence that tests in order to prove the 
 vitality of seeds are absolutely necessary. They avoid great difficulty, 
 because the seedsman knows that it is not the fault of the seed, and 
 in almost every case he can convince his customer that loss came from 
 improper care in sowing, or 1'rom unfavorable climatic conditions. 
 
 These tests are systematically carried on at Fordhook, where green- 
 houses that can be kept at the proper temperature are provided for 
 this purpose. Herein are sown seeds of all kinds and of all ages, in 
 drills four inches apart, one hundred seeds of a kind in a drill, and 
 covered from one-eighth to one-half an inch in depth, according to the 
 size of the seed. A careful record is made of each sowing, as to date, 
 age, and grower of the seed. These sowings have the most constant 
 attention in order to note the progress of germination, as it is quite as 
 important to the market gardener to have the seed come regularly as 
 it is to have a large percentage of germination. Providing the sam- 
 ple tested is all of the same season's growth, there is no better evi 
 dence of a well-selected strain than to have an even germination. It 
 is important to the seedsman as well, for it shows plainly whether the 
 grower has mixed the old with the new crop, in which case the stock 
 would be returned to the grower, The watchful care of Mr. Burpee 
 in this direction is one of the many safeguards he throws around his 
 business. Although expensive, it is in the end cheap insurance and 
 a most valuable auxiliary. 
 
Front the Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Tuesday, September 19, 1898. 
 
 FARM AND GARDEN. 
 
 AUTUMN'S GLORY. 
 " How shall I crown this child ? " fair Summer said : 
 " May wasted all her violets long ago ; 
 
 No longer on the hills June's roses glow, 
 
 Flushing with tender bloom the pasture wide : 
 
 My stately lilies one by one have died ; 
 
 The clematis is but a ghost, and lo ! 
 
 In the fair meadow lands no daisies blow. 
 
 How shall I crown this summer child? " she sighed, , 
 
 Then quickly smiled : " For him, for him," she said, 
 "On every hill my golden rod shall flame, 
 
 Token of all my prescient soul foretells : 
 
 His shall be golden song and golden fame, 
 
 Long golden years with love and honor wed, 
 
 And crowns at last of silver immortelles/' 
 
 — J. C. R. Dorr. 
 
 THE business of the month is the seed for next season's growing. 
 Some grow their own seed, and such have had next season's 
 needs in mind since the growth of this 3 r ear began. Like pro- 
 duces like, they say. And whatever they have grown or have seen 
 growing that was worth reproducing they have marked as to be saved 
 for seeding. Some have even gone further and have made note of 
 special features, either of growth, time of maturing, flavor, etc., and 
 have already an interest in the next year's work in the anticipation 
 that the promise will be fulfilled. 
 
 Those who do not grow their seeds, but make a list each year for the 
 seedsman to fill, are sometimes so far thoughtful as to inquire where 
 these seeds were grown and to find out the care that is taken to prove 
 them good. Seed growing is an exceedingly interesting matter, but 
 not more so than are the methods seedsmen take to protect their good 
 name ; that is, to provide good seed and the proof that it is so. One 
 can judge fairly well of grains and tubers, but of vegetable and flower 
 
 71 
 
72 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 seeds a very lair semblance to the uninitiated may be worthless as 
 chaff. 
 
 It was to find out about it that Fordhook Farm, W. Atlee Burpee's 
 place at Doylestown, was visited. The first knowledge gained was 
 that seed is grown where the conditions of climate, soil, etc., are best 
 suited to its peculiar needs, and where best results can be obtained. 
 Thus lettuce seed is grown in California, cucumber seed in central 
 New York, cauliflower in Denmark, cabbage between the sound and 
 ocean on Long Island, beans, peas, and turnip seed in New York and 
 Canada, watermelon in Florida, okra and egg-plant in Georgia, musk- 
 melon in New Jersey, potatoes and tomatoes in this vicinity. Seed is 
 furnished to such growers in each vicinity as have the location and 
 facilities for turning out best results. More than this, other sorts of 
 many of the varieties must not be grown in the near vicinity, lest the 
 pollen shall be carried by bees or the wind, and undesirable crosses 
 result. 
 
 When the seeds are delivered and while yet in bulk a sample is 
 taken* for the two tests of vitality and purity. For vitality they are 
 sown in frames, and the time of germinating and the character of the 
 first growth noted. If up to the standard, the seeds are endorsed and 
 accepted. If questionable, a second trial is given, when, if the result 
 is not entirely satisfactory, the package is closed again and returned to 
 the grower. This test is a matter of a few days only, whereas the test 
 for purity is a whole season's work. For this every variety of seed is 
 numbered, and a sample is sown between two stakes, bearing the same 
 numbers, and an entry giving every particular concerning the seed is 
 made in the purity book against the same number. As a rule, the 
 seeds grown from the plants in this test are not saved, but a very close 
 watch is kept of every growth, and when anything appears that is new 
 or strange or especially desirable a string is tied about it or a tall stake 
 is driven beside it and the seed is gathered for experimenting. 
 
 Certain seeds, as black Lima beans, tomato, mignonette, verbena, 
 and petunia are grown. Where the seeds have only to be threshed 
 out, the plants are cut close to the earth and brought to the seed-house 
 in sheets, each variety by itself, and on these sheets are exposed to the 
 air and sun until perfectly cured, when they are threshed with a flail, 
 cleaned by machine, tested for vitality, and, if satisfactory, sent to the 
 storehouse for marketing. 
 
 Tomato seed is saved by crushing the fruit in vats of water and 
 leaving it to ferment, when the seeds drop to the bottom. The pulp is 
 then run off and the seeds are washed, drained, and dried. At Ford- 
 
MODERN METHODS IN SEED GRO WING. 73 
 
 hook Farm the pulp from the vat is washed into a small pond. The 
 ducks on the farm found out about it and left their own swimming 
 place for it, and whenever the fermenting pulp was washed away 
 would become grossly intoxicated. Gradually these ducks began to 
 lose in condition, and a post-mortem examination proved a temperance 
 lecture, in that the digestive organs were badly worsted by the fer- 
 mented liquor, and in some of the birds were almost destroyed. 
 
 The tool-house of Fordhook Farm holds a suggestion. Every tool 
 that can be needed is provided. Each one is numbered, and the number 
 is that of the section in the house where they belong when not in use, 
 and of the workman who may use those of the number and no others. 
 If the section is empty or the tools are found lying about, it is easy to 
 place the blame, and one who is careless with tools is considered to be 
 careless in other matters, and is not wanted. 
 
 Mr. Darlington, the superintendent at Fordhook Farm, confirms the 
 statement made in the Ledger a few weeks back that plants produced 
 from the seeds of unripe tomatoes were earlier In ripening the fruit, 
 but adds -that the vitality of the plant is less. The Director of the 
 New York Experiment Station gives as a reason for the earlier ripen- 
 ing the scant foliage usual to the plant from unripened seeds being but 
 little obstructive to the sunlight, the fruit being exposed at all times. 
 Another experiment in which he was interested was with the seeds of 
 large and small tomatoes from the same plant. The seed from the 
 small fruits produced plants of but medium vigor and productiveness, 
 but the fruit was as large as that from the large fruit, and very much 
 earlier. The latter 1 s plants were more vigorous and productive, but 
 the fruit was ten days later. 
 
 At Fordhook, as soon as a patch is cleared, whether of dowers or 
 vegetables, it is sown to clover, to be plowed under the next spring. 
 
From The Daily Democrat, Doylestoien, Pa., Thursday, September 7, 1898. 
 
 CARPENTERS AT F0RDH00K. 
 
 MANY IMPROVEMENTS BEING MADE AT THE FARM — W. ATLEE 
 BURPEE & COMPANY'S NEW SEED HOUSE. 
 
 THE sound of the hammer is echoing about Fordhook farm just 
 now. The finishing touches to a great number of improve- 
 ments are being made. The most important is the big seed- 
 drying house about completed. The late Henry D. Livezey erected 
 the building. . . . 
 
 A hasty glance at the exterior of the building would not convey an 
 idea of its merits, but close inspection shows that it has been carefully 
 planned and built. The timbers are large and heavy. Light, venti- 
 lation, and convenience have all been obtained. ... A magni- 
 ficent view of the hills and valleys about Fordhook can be obtained 
 from the cupola, wherein a big bell will be hung to sound the hours 
 for beginning and quitting work. 
 
 A complete tool room occupies a portion of the first floor. Here are 
 also the seed drawers, seed cleaning room, sheet room, and the tables 
 for sorting and cleaning the various seeds, which are dried upon sheets. 
 The proprietor does not believe in artificial heat for drying purposes, 
 claiming that it has a tendency to destroy the germinating properties 
 of the seeds. Great care and work were necessary in the construction 
 of the tables. Mr. Burpee has minute, dust-like seed, worth its 
 weight in gold, and cracks in the tables would allow many a dollar to 
 slip away. 
 
 The bean-sorting tables are under chutes connecting with bins on the 
 floor above. A metallic attachment regulates the supply wanted by 
 the person engaged in sorting the good seed from the bad. The seed will 
 be threshed with the old-fashioned flail, which requires high ceilings 
 in the room where the work will be done. Through the center of the 
 building is an open driveway and upon one side of the passage is 
 located the elevator for hoisting and lowering crops in bulk. All 
 seeds will be brought to this building to be dried and cured. In the 
 cellars, which have smooth cement floors, potatoes will be stored. 
 
 74 
 

 
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NE W FEA TUBES AT " FORDHOOK. ' ' 77 
 
 Mr. Burpee is endeavoring to interest local farmers in the matter of 
 growing seeds, and his systematic and carefully devised methods for 
 their culture offer valuable suggestions to every fanner desirous of en- 
 gaging in the business. In addition to other improvements there are 
 three new poultry houses on the farm as complete as those described 
 in the Democrat upon previous occasions. 
 
 New stables have been built in the barn, being made of hard wood. 
 Additional windows of the French pattern have been let into the walls 
 In the eow stables cement floors with big gutters for flushing have been 
 laid down. Sunlight and fresh air, economy in room, time, and labor 
 have all had their influence in the creation of the plans for improve- 
 ments and repairs. 
 
 Howard M. Earl, manager, states that the Burpee trial grounds are 
 planted with more than 5200 samples of seed this season. Mr. Earl 
 has recently returned from Europe and after inspecting the famous 
 trial grounds abroad, is satisfied that Fordhook will compare favorably 
 with any in the world. In fact, the business at the farm has so 
 increased that facilities were fast becoming inadequate, and the 
 changes made have been a matter of necessity. 
 
 New ventures are being made, and two new greenhouses, each 100 
 feet long, will be ereeted this year, wherein will be propagated seeds 
 and plants hitherto brought from Europe, including double petunias, 
 gloxinias, etc. Mr. Burpee hopes to get better results by keeping 
 everything under his own eye. The work in the building known as 
 the office is also increasing, and the structure will hereafter be used 
 exclusively for clerical work. 
 
 Though Fordhook is a beautiful place to visit, where one can see 
 evidences of thousands of dollars having been already expended, the 
 owner is not yet content to rest, and is planning future improvements 
 to be as substantial and commodious as those recently created. 
 
; From The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 8, 1892. 
 
 A VISIT TO BEAUTIFUL 
 
 "FORDHOOK" 
 
 Among the Bucks County Hills. 
 
 A BEWILDERING VARIETY OF GORGEOUS 
 BLOSSOMS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 
 
 How W. Atlee Burpee & Co. Have De- 
 veloped All the Scientific and Artistic 
 Possibilities Wrapped Up in Seeds — 
 Trial Grounds and Their Uses— The 
 Cleaning and Distribution of Seeds — 
 New Varieties, How They Originate. 
 
 SOME one of the old philosophers has said that the man who makes 
 two plants grow where there w r as previously but one is a bene- 
 factor of the human race. In that case, what shall we say of 
 the man who makes many hundreds and thousands of plants grow 
 where there was previously none at all ? This latter is what the pro* 
 fessional seed-growers of the country are doing every year. 
 
 -The article, "Where and How Seeds are Grown," first appeared with 
 illustrations in The Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the oldest and best daily 
 papers in America (established 1829). In our Farm Annual for 1893, owing 
 to lack of space, considerable of this article was omitted; we now give it com- 
 plete and trust that, aided by the bright pictures from photographs, it will enable 
 our friends and customers everywhere to look, through the eyes of the Inquirer 
 representative, upon work and results for which our time and capital are so 
 freely given.—W. A. B. & CO. 
 
 78 
 
A MODEL SEED FARM. 79 
 
 The growing of seeds has come to be a science, the immensity and 
 
 value of which is but little realized among the general public. . It has 
 come to be numbered among the leading industries of the United 
 States, and thousands of acres are given over annually to the produc- 
 tion of the tiny germs whose subsequent activity and development are 
 to delight the palate and gratify the senses of sight and smell of mil- 
 lions of people. Vegetable and flower seeds are more particularly in- 
 cluded in this generalization, as it is in these that the average citizen 
 with no special agricultural learning feels the most personal interest. 
 
 As may be imagined, the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania, with 
 its rich, sunn}' fields and hillsides, one of the true garden spots of the 
 country, has proven an attractive field to seed-growers, and there are 
 in the immediate vicinity of Philadelphia a number of extensive seed 
 farms, which are, if people were generally aware of it, centers of the 
 deepest interest, and scenes of some of the most amazing scientific and 
 natural processes that can be conceived. 
 
 A Model Seed Farm. 
 
 One of the largest, and at the same time most accessible and most 
 finely located of these, is beautiful "Fordhook," the producing and 
 testing center of W. Atlee Burpee & Co., which lies among the green 
 hills of Bucks County, just outside the quiet, umbrageous little county- 
 seat, Doylestown. Here the personal management and scientific skill 
 of Mr. Burpee, the firm's head, has built up a veritable model seed 
 farm, and as his generosity throws the gates open to visitors at all times, 
 one can here wander through acre after acre of infinite varieties of pretty 
 much all that old Mother Nature produces in the way of luscious vege- 
 tables and lovely flowers. An Inquirer representative, who recently 
 spent an entire day in tramping over the ground in company with 
 Manager H. M. Earl, secured a most interesting and enjoyable revela- 
 tion of many of the mysteries of nature's laboratory, together with the 
 wonderful effects produced by the refining, cultivating influence of 
 man's hand when he assists those same mysteries in their inception 
 and development. 
 
 The first glimpse of " Fordhook " which the visitor obtains is a 
 "sudden flash of glorious color in the morning landscape just before the 
 Reading Railroad train rolls into Doylestown depot. Acres of bright 
 crimson scarlet sage and vari-hued balsam, mingling with the innumer- 
 able tints of thousands of other flowers and the varying shades of soft 
 green of the vegetable plots, form a striking picture which is a fit pre- 
 lude to the detailed inspection of the scene to come. At the depot a 
 
80 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 buckboard is in waiting, and we are soon speeding over a bard, dry 
 macadamized road, behind one of tbe big, sleek, plump " Fordbook " 
 horses, and being put thoroughly at ease by Manager Earl, who handles 
 the reins ; for courtesy is one of the prevailing characteristics at 
 " Fordhook." and the visitor finds everywhere a delightful hospitality 
 and attention, from the genial head of the firm down to the workers in 
 the fields. 
 
 A Delightful Section of Country. 
 
 The northeast portion of the farm lying nearest Doylestown is a 
 beautiful, shady piece of woodland, which, in spite of the value of 
 every rod of ground for growing purposes, Mr. Burpee is determined 
 shall always remain woodland. At the western entrance to the farm 
 stands "The Cottage," the trim, neat summer residence of Mr. Burpee 
 and his family, surrounded by sloping lawns studded with beds of 
 bright flowers, and looking out across a magnificent stretch of green 
 valleys and far- away blue hills to the south. Not far away is a little 
 two-story structure, where is located the office, and this is the best 
 point from which to start off and " do " the farm. Close at hand are 
 the greenhouses used for starting early, tender seed, such as tomatoes 
 and peppers in the spring, and alongside of these are rows of frames, 
 where the young seedlings are ushered off, and given their first start in 
 life before being transplanted to the open fields. 
 
 Down the southward slope from the office, where they will get the 
 full effects of the sun, are acre after acre of the humble but succulent 
 bean, for the growing of which the Burpee house has a great reputation, 
 especially in the production of new varieties. Many new forms are 
 tried every year, and many sample packages of seed are distributed free 
 in every section of the country, in order that reports may be obtained 
 as to availability and growth, and a widespread judgment secured. 
 However homely the subject, a field of beans is a picturesque sight when 
 seen as here, where the rows are planted with the most mathematical 
 accuracy, four feet apart each way. In the midst of the pole beans is 
 seen an interesting instance of the methods adopted to secure purity of 
 stock. There is a sudden break in the beans, and the gap is filled in 
 with two rows of a new variety of sweet corn which is being tested, 
 and wbich is thus isolated among the beans to prevent it being vitiated 
 or affected by any other varieties of corn in the vicinity. Corn requires 
 great care in this respect, as the light pollen is carried to extraordinary 
 distances by the wind, resulting in the hybridization of the original 
 stocks. 
 
THE HOME OF THE " BALSAM: 
 
 M 
 
 Some Wonderful Balsams. 
 
 A field of bright-hued balsams next claims attention. One of tbe 
 striking peculiarities of " Fordhook " is the manner in which the old- 
 time simple flowers of our grandmothers' gardens have been refined, 
 and by diligent, painstaking selection and cross-fertilization developed 
 into the most gorgeous and beautiful blooms imaginable. This is par- 
 ticularly the case with balsams, which are made the subject of special 
 care and pride by Mr. Burpee and his assistants. One can hardly 
 realize that these magnificent flowers which are here seen massed by 
 the acre are developed from the old familiar lady-slipper. They are of 
 
 imm 
 
 i vi V : l :^mki\ 
 
 every imaginable hue and tint, from gaudy scarlet and purple to a 
 delicate rose-pink, and they are fully as double as roses. 
 
 Mr. Burpee claims that ''Fordhook" presents the finest stock of 
 balsams in the world, and certainly one can imagine nothing to excel 
 the display which here feasts the eye. Close at hand are beds of very 
 rich, red, tulip-colored poppies, which, like most of the floral novelties 
 tested at " Fordhook/' come from across the water. " Europe," says 
 Mr. Earl, " is the fountain-head of flowers ; we are constantly receiv- 
 ing and testing varieties from there. The growers and hybridizers in 
 the old countries have great advantage over us in taste and experience. " 
 
82 SELECTION IN SEED GEO WING. 
 
 In spite of which, however, it is hard to conceive of any higher develop- 
 ment of taste and beauty than we see in the flower-beds in all parts of 
 "Fordhook." 
 
 A great blaze of warm, deep crimson color tells us we have reached 
 the principal beds of Salvia splendens, or scarlet sage, which is a con- 
 spicuous flower in numerous parts of the farm and which gives a strong, 
 ruddy dash of color to every spot in which it penetrates. Scarlet sage 
 has probably never before been seen in such a high state of develop- 
 ment as it has reached here. It is much improved in habit of growth 
 and the plants are more compact than the scarlet sage of the old- 
 fashioned garden. Here is noticed a curious instance of what the 
 gardeners and growers call a "sport," or erratic deviation from the 
 original stock. This is nothing less than a white scarlet sage, or, in 
 other words, one that is not scarlet at all, but pure white, growing 
 directly in the midst of the thousands of deep-colored flowers. The 
 seed from this " sport " will be carefully saved and planted next year 
 in an isolated position, and may result in the development of a new, 
 white variety. It is in this way that many of the most valuable new 
 varieties of both vegetables and flowers are obtained. 
 
 Some Valuable Seed. 
 
 Large plots of petunias close at hand flaunt their rich colors in the 
 autumn breeze. Mr. Burpee has spent much care upon petunias, and 
 has a special strain called " Defiance," which bear the most gorgeous 
 blossoms imaginable, of all colors, and of wonderful size, many of the 
 flowers being three, four, and even five inches across. It is an interest- 
 ing fact that the higher the state of refinement a flower reaches, the 
 scarcer is its seed, and this is well shown in this very "Defiance" 
 petunia, whose seed is so rare that it is worth $50 per ounce, and the 
 entire product of seed from an acre of flowers is but a few ounces ; 
 common petunias produce from forty to fifty pounds of seed to the 
 acre, and it brings from $4 per pound up. 
 
 New and Interesting Varieties. 
 
 The visitor is everywhere surprised by some new and interesting 
 novelty literally cropping up from under his very feet as he traverses 
 " Fordhook." Here, for instance, we strike a funny little wrinkled 
 pepper, which comes all the way from South America, and which has 
 a taste as distinctly fiery as the hot-headed nations of the Southern 
 republics. A few steps further on we come to another of Mr. Burpee's 
 pets, a curious dwarf bean, known as Burpee's bush lima, which holds 
 
UTILITY AND BEAUTY COMBINED. 83 
 
 itself in the air without the assistance of a pole, and which bears deli- 
 cious, big, sweet beans, looking good enough to eat raw. This variety 
 has a curious history. A Chester County farmer one year planted a 
 number of ordinary pole lima beans, which voracious cut - worms 
 promptly destroyed as soon as they had attained a good growth. 
 Among the wreck was found a " sport " in the shape of a dwarf bean, 
 which took on itself bush}' characteristics, and ignored the poles. 
 The farmer took care of it, sent the seed to " Fording," and, by skill, 
 science, and industry Mr. Burpee succeeded in maintaining the presenl 
 valuable form. This bush bean is considered by growers everywhere to 
 be one of the greatest horticultural achievements of the age. The bean 
 is a peculiar plant, according to the experience at Fordhook. For 
 instance, not long ago, thirty varieties which were sent up from Lima, 
 Peru, the home of the vegetable, were thoroughly tested in the farm's 
 trial grounds, and not one was found to be of practical value. 
 
 Cockscomb and Sage. 
 
 More flowers come into view, the arrangements a£ the farm involving 
 a delightful and novel alternation of vegetables and flowers, which has 
 not only its esthetic side to the visitor, but also its utilitarian side to 
 the grower, as it is a precaution against mixing by cross fertilization of 
 allied varieties in either class. Here we find a massive stretch of 
 Celosia, which is cockscomb, and yet which is not cockscomb in the 
 old-fashioned sense, for these magnificent, velvety flowers, of rich ruby 
 crimson, low of growth, and forming splendid, compact clusters, 
 would have been a revelation to our ancestors. In brilliant contrast is 
 a large patch of Salvia patens, or blue sage, which presents the richest 
 blue of any flower known. This is .a very delicate plant in Europe, 
 and needs tender care in greenhouses, but it grows luxuriantly and 
 hardily enough out in the open fields here at Fordhook. The next 
 plot of vegetables includes an unique climbing cucumber, of Japanese 
 origin, and a little further on is a large patch of a pure white cucum- 
 ber, which is notable from the fact that it contains none of the peculiar 
 sharp taste which the skin communicates to the common green variety. 
 We here see a special variety of sw r eet corn, which is the result of four 
 or five years of careful hybridization. 
 
 The grain is very deep, and the cob shows up comparatively small 
 when the ear is broken across. We skirt around a field of beautiful, 
 feathery asparagus, which will be sending up succulent shoots next 
 spring, and strike into several acres of tomatoes, among which is a 
 peculiar pear-shaped variety. Tomatoes are one of the bugbears of the 
 
84 
 
 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 grower's life. Hundreds of new varieties are coming out all the time, 
 and all of these which give any promise of good qualities are conscien- 
 tiously tested at " Fordhook," often with the most discouraging 
 results. The qualifications of a good tomato are uniformity of color, 
 as few seeds as possible, and lack of tendency to crack when ripening, 
 and the last seems the hardest to fulfill. Here we chance upon a 
 curious little tomato, known as the husk tomato, and which is the old 
 "ground cherry " revived ; it is about the size and shape of a hickory 
 nut, and its only use is for preserving. 
 
 Another big field of beans is encountered, and here we strike the 
 
 Sunshine Wax, which is of a beautiful golden yellow, and is regarded 
 as the highest type of string bean. Like the bush lima this also had 
 an interesting origin, being derived from a " sport" in the fields of an 
 old Long Island farmer. 
 
 Among Lovely Flowers. 
 
 Two acres of mixed phlox form an attractive picture, these beauti- 
 ful flowers being another of Mr. Burpee's particular favorities. Not 
 far from the phlox patch is found an interesting balsam " sport," with 
 beautifully striped and blotched petals. This bears a distinctive num- 
 ber, and is classified upon the farm's books by the patch in which it 
 
THE TRIAL GROUNDS. 85 
 
 grows and other characteristics which go to make up a flower's pedi- 
 gree. Much of Mr. Burpee's success in obtaining such magnificent 
 varieties of plants is due to this principle of selecting and growing 
 only the finest specimens, breeding them as carefully as blooded ani- 
 mals are bred, and keeping a regular plant pedigree. 
 
 Among the many beautiful flowers we here see a bed of dwarf fire 
 ball zinnia, and near at hand a mass of the curiously beautiful giant 
 spider plant, whose seed-pods, quivering on the ends of slender stipules, 
 present a startling resemblance to the extended legs of an immense 
 spider, with the corolla of the flower in the center as a body. Then 
 here is the royal purple balsam, which is a single flower across the 
 water, but which at " Fordhook " is beautifully double, and causes 
 foreign visitors to open their eyes in consequence. Two acres of splen- 
 did mignonette were, a few weeks back, scenting the air sweetly for 
 yards around, but the cold nights have now nipped these, and their 
 seed is already in process of drying. Some other balsams are met 
 here, known as the camellia flowered, and which are ranked next to 
 the " Defiance " strain. The " Daisy Miller "is a beautiful flower, 
 pure white in color, with a most marvelously delicate lavender-tinged 
 center, while the " Perfection " is spotlessly white, and is much used 
 by florists for wire work. An unique and pretty variety of phlox is 
 streaked like a star and handsomely fringed around the edges of the 
 petals. A couple of interesting vegetable "sports" are the Golden 
 Queen tomato, which is a beautiful yellow color and of delicious 
 flavor, and some monstrous peppers, six and eight inches long, of divers 
 shapes. A hardy-looking patch of strawberry plants is; we are told, 
 the Parker Earle, named after the president of a Western horticultural 
 society, and which, besides possessing a fine flavor, has roots which 
 go deep into the ground and defy upheaving frosts. 
 
 The Trial Grounds. 
 
 One of the ruling principles of ''Fordhook" is to experiment all 
 things, then retain and develop the best. The work of experimenting 
 with the qualities of hundreds of varieties of growing things is one 
 of the most interesting and important features of the farm. The 
 trial grounds occupy between five and six acres upon the eastern side, 
 and the average visitor who has a liking for the beautiful in nature or 
 for the innermost science of horticulture would gladly spend an entire 
 day here. Before taking a hasty glance at the trial grounds it is neces- 
 sary to say something about how original stocks are obtained by Mr. 
 Burpee. It has been found that different seeds ripen and mature best 
 6 
 
86 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 in different sections of the country, or in different countries, slight dis- 
 tinctions of soil or climate having an immense influence on the proper 
 development of plants. For this reason many of the Burpee seeds are 
 the product of special groAvers located in various States or in various 
 foreign countries. Thus it has heen found that peas and beans mature 
 best in the northwestern part of New York and the adjoining region 
 of Canada ; vine seeds, such as watermelons, do best in the damp, rich 
 soil of Florida ; muskmelous, cucumbers, and squashes in New Jersey 
 and Nebraska ; egg-plants in New Jersey and Georgia ; tomatoes in 
 Pennsylvania and Ohio ; radish seed mostly comes from France. A 
 large number of flower seeds and the large, mild onions come from 
 Italy, and flowers of novel forms and hues are always being produced 
 by almost every European country excepting Russia ; almost all the 
 cabbage seed grown in this country comes from Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
 vania, and Long Island, and the best cauliflower seed from Denmark ; 
 lettuce seed gets its best growth in California ; in fact, the sub-tropical 
 climate of portions of this latter State has proven excellent for many 
 kinds of seeds which formerly had to be imported from abroad. 
 
 Seeds From all Over the Globe. 
 
 " Fordbook " farm, therefore, gets seed from all over the globe, even 
 from such out-of-the-way countries as Russia and China, besides con- 
 stantly receiving large quantities from the firm's own growers in dif- 
 ferent parts of the United States, and samples of the principal introduc- 
 tions of rival seedsmen from everywhere. All these seeds are carefully 
 tested as to their growth and general qualities, and compared with 
 one another in order that the very best may always be determined upon. 
 It is for the making of these tests that the trial grounds are used. The 
 grounds are divided up into thonsands of little, regular, oblong patches, 
 in each of which is sown one kind of seed only. No extra fertilization 
 or extraordinary cultivation is used upon these patches, care being taken 
 that all seeds shall germinate and grow under precisely the same con- 
 ditions as they would find in the fields of the average American farmer. 
 Not only are all outside seeds tested here, but every one of the Burpee 
 firm's own seeds are subjected to precisely the same conditions, in order 
 not only that every comparison may be made, but that the standard of 
 their own seed may not be allowed to fall. 
 
 In addition to these tests, precautions are taken by sending out 
 skilled inspectors to see that all crops grown for Burpee are first-class 
 in every respect. 
 
COMPREHENSIVE RECORDS. 87 
 
 A Novel Set of Books. 
 
 The record of results attained in the trial grounds is a most interest- 
 ing feature. This record is kept in a set of registry books stored in the 
 office of the farm. Each plot of the grounds hears a number, and these 
 numbers are entered upon the hooks, with all the characteristics of the 
 various plants carefully noted opposite them as the season advances. 
 The amount of clerical labor to be done in keeping this novel set of 
 hooks can be estimated when it is known that during the season just 
 ending there have been 3000 varieties of vegetable seeds, and 1240 
 varieties of flower seeds tested in the trial beds.* To show something 
 of the endless profusion of seeds handled it may be stated that of these 
 4240 varieties there were 372samples of beans, 176 of cabbages, 40 beets, 
 93 of sweet corn, 74 cucumbers, 88 of lettuce, 84 muskmelons, 110 
 watermelons, 86 onions, 102 peas, 53 peppers. 45 potatoes. 45 pump 
 kins, 7.'> radishes, 108 squashes, 26 of tobacco, and 118 tomatoes; 
 among the flowers there were 70 varieties of balsams, 131 asters, 11 
 poppies, 86 pansies, 33 petunias, 61 sweet peas, 27 scabiosas, and 24 
 nasturtiums. Of course these are simply the leading species among 
 hundreds here represented. 
 
 The very first test is not made in the trial grounds, but in the green- 
 house frames, where the seeds are examined as to their vitality, the 
 latter involving consideration of the length of time they lie in the 
 ground, when they germinate, and the rapidity of their growth, the 
 results being noted down on a basis of percentage. 
 
 A few hours' walk through the several thousand trial beds is full of 
 interest and enjoyment, but it would take weeks and months spent as- 
 siduously here to learn one-half of the interesting things to be learned, 
 or to see one-half the beauties which are displayed at every turn. 
 
 The Coming Flower. 
 
 Not faraway are the plots of sweet peas, which call for special men- 
 tion, not only on account of the magnificence to which these lovely 
 
 * As will be seen, the total of trials for the season of 1892 was 4220. For 
 the past season of 1893, our books sbow 2883 trials of Vegetable Seeds and 
 2426 trials of Flower Seeds, a total of 5309. The following details will show 
 something of the scope covered by these trials: — In Vegetables : Beans, 351 
 trials; Beets, 73; Cabbage, 236; Sweet Corn, 195; Lettuce, 177; Melons, 
 227; Onions, 131; Peas, 155; Potatoes, 60; Radishes, 145; Tomatoes, 131; 
 Grass, 106, etc. Some of the leading items in Flower Sheds are — Pansies, 
 230 trials; Sweet Peas, 137; Asters, 337; Balsams, 107; Ipomoea, 17: Nas- 
 turtium and Tropgeolum, 60; Poppies, 87; Scabiosa, 53; Stocks, 97; Verbena, 
 30 ; Zinnia, 34, etc.— W. A. B. & Co. 
 
88 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 flowers have here been brought, but also because of the importance 
 which they promise to assume in the ornamental gardening of the 
 near future. Mr. Burpee thinks that the sweet pea has never re- 
 ceived the consideration from horticulturists and flower lovers to 
 which it is entitled, and he considers it the flower of the future. The 
 improvements made in sweet peas by hybridization and high cultiva- 
 tion are greater than in the case of any other annual flower, excepting 
 pansies. The fact that their beauty is beginning to impress the world 
 at large is shown by the fact that contracts for furnishing sweet pea 
 seeds have already been made for the coming season aggregating over 
 12,000 pounds. By his efforts to improve and make more popular this 
 lovely flower, Mr. Burpee has undoubtedly made his house the head- 
 quarters for them. The trial beds show many beautiful varieties of 
 every imaginable hue. Of pansies, too, there are hosts of fine and rare 
 kinds, all brought to a high state of perfection, and that they are 
 popular is best demonstrated by the fact that more than 250,000 pack- 
 ages of pansy seeds were sold by W. Atlee Burpee & Co. last season. 
 
 Varieties Being Tested. 
 
 Among the many interesting and beautiful things which the trial 
 beds reveal, and can, unfortunately, be but barely touched upon, 
 there is the curious yard-long bean, the Willow-leaf Lima, which has 
 beautiful slender foliage, entirely suitable for ornamental purposes, 
 and at the same time bears an enormous crop of succulent beans ; 
 gorgeous beds of celosia, among which a magnificent new French 
 variety, " Triumph of the Exposition," is particularly noticeable ; bal- 
 sams without number and without limitation as to shades and colors, 
 and many beds of brilliant dianthus and carnations. There seem to 
 be endless varieties of tomatoes on trial, and one of the best,- which is 
 known as the " Dwarf Champion," is of particular interest to horti- 
 culturists, owing to the fact that it has the commendable faculty of 
 keeping itself within respectable bounds, and not spreading over too 
 much territory; the "Matchless" is another of the very few really 
 good varieties shown here. A curious freak of nature is the peach 
 tomato, which looks for all the world like a ripe, luscious freestone 
 from sandy Delaware. There are a number of samples from abroad 
 on trial, including a straw-white variety, but they have been found to 
 be comparatively worthless, and as the manager sententiously re- 
 marks, " America leads the world in tomatoes." 
 
 Bed after bed is given over to squashes, and they assume every im- 
 aginable shape and size, one of the most peculiar being the Der Wing, 
 from China, which is covered all over the surface with warts. The 
 
EVOLUTION OF NOVELTIES. 80 
 
 leading squash here has the honor of bearing " Fordhook " as its title 
 and represents the acme of cultivation and reiinement in this line. 
 
 Unique Blossoms. 
 
 Among the brilliant plots of phlox a novelty is the Starred and 
 Fringed variety, and among the petunias we are shown a handsome 
 specimen with unique, green-margined petals. Here is a most won- 
 derful display of gladioli, with spikes of gorgeous blooms several feet 
 long and presenting all the rainbow colors. The dahlias at "'Ford- 
 hook " are all grown from seed, instead of roots, a recent introduction 
 which has proven immensely successful. Row after row of vari- 
 colored asters delight the eye with a wealth of tints, and flariug mari- 
 golds bend gracefully toward the sun, one of the most beautiful being 
 the lemon quilled, which is a bright yellow. Here, too, are grown 
 direct from the seed the most brilliant coleus and verbenas. Cosmos, 
 which is a Mexican plant in several colors, forms an attractive dis- 
 play, and we can well believe the assertion that this flower is consid- 
 ered by florists to be an exceedingly high type of beauty. 
 
 It will be seen that these trial beds occupy the position of a huge 
 open book, in which can be read at all times the qualities of any par- 
 ticular kind of plant, and in which all faults, as well as all merits and 
 beauties, are written by nature's inflexible hand. From these beds 
 have sprung many important novelties. Among the valuable vege- 
 tables which W. Atlee Burpee & Co. have introduced are the Iron- 
 clad and Cuban Queen watermelons, Emerald Gem and Montreal 
 muskmelons, Ruby King pepper, Silver King and Victoria onions, 
 Surehead cabbage, which is a late variety, and All head cabbage, 
 which is early ; Empire State and Burpee's Extra Early potatoes. 
 Saddleback Wax and Burpee's Bush Lima beans, Turner Hybrid 
 tomato, Breadstone turnip, and several different forms of peas, 
 besides Welcome oats and other farm seeds, all of which have stood 
 the tests of time and wide experience, and have proven decided addi- 
 tions to the standard planting stock of the country. 
 
 Preparing the Seed. 
 
 Of course, one of the all-important divisions of the work at " Ford- 
 hook ' ' is the preparation of the seeds after they have been grown and 
 gathered. This is a labor that requires the utmost care and deftness, 
 and, indeed, when the average visitor notes the minute, almost micro- 
 scopic, size of many of the flower seeds, he is inclined to wonder that 
 it is possible to save any of them at all. But the work has been re- 
 duced to a science here, and skilled workmen turn out the cleanest 
 and purest seed that could possibly be obtained. 
 
90 
 
 SELECTION IN SEED GROWING. 
 
 Seeds in pods, such as balsam, are first run through an ingenious 
 apparatus in which a grooved wheel crushes the dried pods, allowing 
 the heavy seed to drop out, dust and debris then being removed by 
 means of a sieve. In fact, the sieve and the fan are the principal 
 means of cleaning the bulk of seeds. The separation of the seeds of 
 melons, tomatoes, and other such pulpy vegetables is a most interest- 
 ing process. It is carried on in a little frame pavilion in a hollow in 
 the southwest corner of the farm. The matter in hand, tomatoes, for 
 instance, is first poured into a cider press and ground up, then placed 
 into barrels and allowed to ferment for twenty-four hours. Upon this 
 
 the matter goes into a large washing tank furnished with a sieve 
 through which the heavy seeds sink to the bottom, the light seeds and 
 pulp floating off on top. The tank is then tapped at the bottom, the 
 accumulated seeds drawn off, and after several additional washings 
 they are ready to be dried. 
 
 Seeds are dried upon canvas frames in the second story of the build- 
 ings, where there is a free circulation of air, or, in fine weather, upon 
 sheets and frames spread in the open air. 
 
 Among the Collies. 
 
 A highly interesting portion of " Fordhook " is the section devoted 
 to live stock. The firm of Burpee has for years had a high reputation 
 
THE COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT. 91 
 
 as breeders of imported Collie dogs, and the kennels present a very 
 important feature of the farm. The dogs are so beautifully kept, their 
 quarters are so neat and clean, and the animals arc so bright and 
 intelligent that it is a pleasure to go among them. Mr. Burpee claims 
 that he has here equally as line stock as anybody in the country. He 
 does not breed for exhibition purposes, and rarely exhibits any of the 
 dogs, for fear of infection, but the end and aim of the breeding at 
 " Fordhook " is intelligence and canine beauty, which are certainly 
 here in the fullest degree. 
 
 The poultry houses and yards are equally as neat and clean as the 
 kennels, and show untiring energy and attention. An incubator turns 
 out dozens of fuzzy little thoroughbred chicks every month, and before 
 they get old enough to breed they are placed in separate yards, each 
 breed by itself, in order that strains may always be kept pure. There 
 are about TOO chickens on the farm now, some of the breeds repre- 
 sented being Sherwoods, Black-breasted Red and Indian Games, Light 
 Brahmas, Brown Leghorns, Barred Plymouth Rocks, White-crested 
 Black Polish, Buff Cochins, and Langshans. 
 
 The fine strains of sheep and swine handled by the Burpee firm are 
 kept at different points in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the same 
 care being maintained in their maintenance and the preservation of 
 breed as with the dogs and poultry at " Fordhook." 
 
 Distributing Seeds. 
 
 The house of Burpee, whose large store and warehouses are in this 
 city, 475 and 477 North Fifth Street, 476 and 478 York Avenue, occu- 
 pies an unique position among seedsmen, inasmuch as they sell direct 
 to planters more than any other house in the country. They come 
 directly into contact with farmers and gardeners through the medium 
 of their handsome annual catalogue, and their trade is all by mail and 
 express, no agents being sent out through the country to stir up pro- 
 fanity and afford food for alert dogs. The catalogue is the best agent. 
 and last year 575,000 copies of their catalogues went broadcast over the 
 country, in addition to a great many million circulars. 
 
 Some idea of the immense business which is done at the Philadel- 
 phia warehouse in the handling of seeds is afforded by the statement 
 that from 125 to 150 hands are employed, more than 4000 seed orders 
 have been filled in a single day, and the enormous number of 6400 
 pieces of mail have been delivered at the store in one day, exclusive of 
 newspapers and circulars. 
 
 The growing and distribution of seeds is apparently very much of a 
 business. 
 
From the New Jersey Temperance Gazette, Camden, N. «/., April 2d. 
 
 SEED GROWING AND TESTING. 
 
 MODERN DEVELOPMENTS OF THE BUSINESS AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE 
 GROWTH OF A REPRESENTATIVE HOUSE. 
 
 SEED growing as a business is of comparatively recent origin. In 
 the earlier years of our country's history each farmer grew his 
 own seed, or else traded with his neighbors for their equivalent. 
 This was neither satisfactory nor profitable, viewed from any stand- 
 point, but was the best that could be done under the then existing 
 circumstances. But as the calling of the agriculturist broadened and 
 became more complex in its nature and demands, the necessity for 
 better seed service became imperative. Farmers who had been content 
 to raise ten bushels of wheat to the acre found that the extra cost of 
 living and labor left no profit at the old yield. The changed circum- 
 stances demanded better seeds, better service, and bigger harvests. 
 
 Nowadays the farmer who raises his own seeds engages in a work 
 which can be done far cheaper and better by the professional seed 
 growers. Every man to his own trade. All the skill, industry, and 
 energy which have characterized the seed growers have resulted in 
 pushing the business to a point but little removed from perfection itself. 
 
 In the van of the big seed-growing concerns is the firm of W. Atlee 
 Burpee & Co., of Philadelphia. There are other houses whose experi- 
 mental farms are possibly as large as Fordhook, but it is nowhere 
 written that the size of the farm indicates the quality of the seed. 
 Fordhook is a synonym for painstaking care. There the seed is 
 watched through all its stages of development, and at no point is it 
 allowed to suffer for lack of careful attention. It is just this care that 
 makes the Fordhook brand what it is. 
 
 Add to this vigilant oversight and rigid scrutiny the fact that W. 
 Atlee Burpee & Co. are ever on the alert to bring oat novelties of 
 every description, and the key is found to the remarkable success of 
 this firm. In the management of this house we find a happy union of 
 wise conservatism, blended with virile progressiveness. But a novelty 
 must have other merit than mere "newness" to win their approba- 
 tion. Mr. Burpee knows that most of the readers of the 500,000 
 catalogues annually issued are not in business altogether for the " sake 
 of their health." These readers are perfectly content to have the 
 seedsmen experiment on the seeds at their own sweet pleasure, but 
 they themselves don't want to be made the victims of the seedsmen's 
 experimentation. The Burpee method is to experiment on the seeds, 
 not on the customers. That is why their business has been built from 
 nothing to its present enormous proportions. 
 
 * 92 
 
From the Doylestown Intelligencer, September SO, 1895. 
 
 F0RDH00K IN FALL. 
 
 A BRIEF SEPTEMBER VISIT AT THE SEED FARM— A GLANCE AT THE 
 RECENT IMPROVEMENTS— BRILLIANT AUTUMN SETTING TO THE 
 LABORS OF THE YEAR. 
 
 IN royal radiance beneath the golden September sunshine, is spread 
 the harvest bloom at Fordhook. Never were the broad acres more 
 beauteous than at this season, when the ripening process is in pro- 
 gress and the blossoms are most brilliant in their maturing. In fall 
 view from railroad trains, on either side of the lane, are extensive beds 
 of scarlet sage, which flood the landscape with the soft, warm, cardi- 
 nal light. Flanking these are beds of balsams, of paler hues, inter- 
 mingled with the de'icate green of their leaves, which constitute 
 the setting of the more vivid center pieces. Seldom if ever have the 
 seed grounds, sweeping gently to the south, presented more gorgeous 
 pictures than this autumn, and never has Mr. Burpee's Fordhook Farm 
 looked handsomer or given stronger token of the enterprise and activ- 
 ity, the accomplishments and success, of the industry and experiments 
 carried on there. 
 
 In front of the house and extending to the railroad and highway 
 are the seed-growing grounds first referred to. They are the most 
 noticeable and best known features to visitors and travelers. Yet they 
 do not so greatly merit or need description at this time, because of this 
 knowledge. Extensive changes and improvements have been made in 
 the recent past, and the institution shows large advance with each de- 
 parting twelvemonth. 
 
 The trial grounds, east of the buildings and south of the woods, 
 are packed to repletion with experiments in progress. In one place 
 are numbers of sweet peas, away up in double figures. Another spot 
 is marked by coxcombs. Here are tomatoes. Yonder are melons. 
 Alongside are cauliflower. Beyond are a new variety of cabbage. 
 Everything is labeled and marked. In the office are histories of each 
 test. Everything is systemized. All work is intelligently done. The 
 results of one season are available to conduct the operations of the next. 
 
 93 
 
94 SELECTION IN SEED GEO WING. 
 
 Sometimes experiments have to be repeated. All the needed infor- 
 mation has not been acquired in the first operation. It is sometimes 
 necessary to verify conclusions by repeated tests under differing con- 
 ditions. But in each and every trial something is gained, and what- 
 ever it may be is recorded, that the information may be available in 
 future. 
 
 In the recent past much work has been done about the buildings. 
 In the old barn the basement has been completely renovated. Admir- 
 able stable arrangements have been introduced — hard pine fittings and 
 cemented floors. Here are quartered the clean, slick, mild-eyed, and 
 gentle Jerseys which supply Mr. Burpee's family and people with 
 dairy products. Neighbors of the cows, across the entries, are the 
 working horses. Especially noticeable among these are the two black 
 Percherons, "" Candid " and " Emmett," recently purchased up in York 
 State. They are young fellows, but large, kind, intelligent, and very- 
 powerful. They are the admiration of all who visit Fordhook, and 
 are admirably adapted for their duties of heavy farm work. 
 
 The dog kennels have been somewhat increased in number, and 
 therein are found collies of all sizes, from a few days old — with grave 
 and serious countenances — up to the patriarchs of marvelous under- 
 standing and intelligence, even for this most sagacious breed of man's 
 best friend. The same general arrangement is observed as heretofore, 
 and each kennel has a small run connected with it in which the occu- 
 pant can take exercise. At the time of the writer's visit there were 
 several litters of pups of the most cute and cunning appearance imag- 
 inable. 
 
 The chicken houses have been increased in number. They are com- 
 modious buildings with exteusive yards connected with each. The 
 species are, of course, kept separate, and many of the thoroughbreds are 
 very handsome, while others, of much value, are not so pleasing to 
 the eye. 
 
 West of the stock is a new and commodious building, now nearing 
 completion, which is going to be a most useful as well as convenient 
 adjunct in the seed-growing department. The structure is of frame so 
 arranged, with inclined planes, that large loaded wagons maybe driven 
 directly through the center. On one side of this passageway a hoist- 
 ing apparatus is arranged to carry freight to the third floor. On the 
 west side, on the first floor, is a large, tight-floored, high-ceilinged 
 room. This is to be used for a threshing floor. The process will be 
 done with flails, and fanning will be by a hand machine as often and 
 as finely as the different varieties of seed may demand. East of the 
 
FORDHOOK IN FALL. 
 
 95 
 
 main gangway is a room for seed sorting and packing, with boxes and 
 racks of drawers for storage. Adjoining the latter is ;i second room 
 for the storage of certain kinds of implements, etc. The second flooi 
 contains drying racks — canvas cloth stretched across wooden frames. 
 These are light, and may be stored in large numbers in limited space. 
 The third floor is an open loft, where crops, such as beans, peas, corn, 
 etc., may be spread for drying, or the space may be utilized for stor- 
 age. From the third floor a narrow stairway leads to the observatory 
 and belfry. From this point of observation all of Fordhook, except 
 what lies along the Upper State Road, is visible. The view at this 
 season is a splendid one, the luxuriant crops of vivid colors or ample 
 fruitage, as the case may be, presenting all sorts of variety and 
 diversity. 
 
 From the same point of vantage, extending for miles to the south- 
 east and south, is to be seen the broad valley which sweeps away to 
 Newville and westward in most handsome landscape of cultivated 
 fields, farm buildings, woodland, etc. To the east is Doylestown, 
 where the foliage and houses, the roofs and spires, the red of brick and 
 green of trees, suggest town and country both, and handsomely mark 
 the county's capital. Close below the belfry is the office building, 
 wherein Messrs. Darlington and Earl, Mr. Burpee's chiefs of staff, are 
 busily at work with their records and the direction of affairs. Just 
 west of this is the cosy summer home of the proprietor, larger and 
 more commodious than that destroyed by fire a few seasons back, 
 where, with his family, Mr. Burpee spends the summer months, enter- 
 tains his friends and enjoys Fordhook, its beauties and environmeuts, 
 to the utmost. 
 
From The Florists' Exchange, New York, January 28, 1S93. 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO.'S SEED HOUSE.* 
 
 AS we have never given our readers a description of this im- 
 mense establishment, we may be pardoned for going into a 
 more lengthy description than we have allowed to the other 
 seedsmen visited (in Philadelphia). 
 
 They claim to do the largest mailing business in the United States, 
 and therefore, not improbably, in the whole world, and it is impossible 
 to be in the building for a few minutes without receiving the impres- 
 sion that the business is immense, and that impression becomes convic- 
 tion as each of the five floors and the basement of the building is 
 visited in its turn and the increasing activity of the 140 people employed 
 therein is noticed. 
 
 The first floor is partly devoted to the general office, in which is ample 
 desk room for 30 people, book-keepers, cashiers, corresponding clerks, 
 type-writers, etc. A feature of this office is an enormous safe, con- 
 taining nothing but the order books for what is called the retail trade, 
 that is, orders received by mail from private parties. On this floor is 
 Mr. W. Atlee Burpee's private office, where the representative of the 
 Florists' Exchange was received by the head of the firm, who after 
 some most flattering encomiums of the paper, placed me under the 
 guidance of the manager, to be shown over the establishment. 
 
 Leaving the office we proceeded to the rear, where a large open space 
 is devoted to packing bulky goods, and which opens on York Avenue, 
 where the wagons deliver all goods and load for shipment. A large 
 steam elevator occupies one corner of this department. Following my 
 cicerone, I now ascend to the first floor, on which is the flower-seed 
 
 *The foregoing newspaper reports show the methods of growing and testing 
 seeds at Fordhook Farm. The above article briefly describes the business 
 system in force at our warehouse, Nos. 475 and 477 North Fifth Street, and 
 476 and 478 York Avenue. The same subject is more fully treated, and also 
 carefully illustrated from flash-light photographs of the different departments, 
 in pages 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in our Farm Annual for 1894. — W. A. B. & Co. 
 
 96 
 
THE CITY WAREHOUSE. 97 
 
 department, where orders for these goods and for bulbs are filled. 
 Pigeon holes and small drawers all around the walls and in large 
 frames or cases, separated by narrow alleyways, make up the principal 
 furniture on this floor and are filled with small packets of flower seeds, 
 arranged so that every separate kind can be reached in a moment. A 
 full line of empty packages or envelopes is kept here in pigeon holes 
 corresponding with the filled packages. 
 
 Here also are large bins of sweet peas, for which Mr. Burpee, aware 
 of their ever-growing popularity, has made contracts for over 14, (too 
 pounds. Half of this floor is given up to the mailing department, the 
 importance of which may be conceived from the fact that over 4000 
 orders are sometimes mailed from here in one day. This is exclusive 
 of the goods sent out from the express department on the floor above, 
 to which we ascend. 
 
 Here are the express, freight, and wholesale departments, and the seed- 
 tilling department, in which is a great curiosity in the form of an auto- 
 matic package filler and closer worked by steam. The paper bags, of 
 which all the small sizes can be used, are placed in a horizontal rack, 
 along which they move in an erect position ; the seed is poured into a 
 hopper at the top of the machine, which is then started. With wonder- 
 ful rapidity a scoop receives a modicum of seed and pours it, by means 
 of a long, narrow beak, into the bag which has come immediately 
 beneath it. The bag filled, it travels on till it reaches a slot, into 
 which it drops, receiving on its downward path a smear of mucilage on 
 its flap and a squeeze to fasten it. It then drops into a receiver, 
 where it is immediately followed by other bags which have been filled, 
 gummed, and dropped into an endless stream. By this contrivance one 
 operative can fill and gum 20,000 packages of seeds a day. 
 
 The next floor is used for bulk storage and printing. Four presses, 
 a collection of electrotypes, and type are used to print bags, envelopes, 
 names of retailers on catalogues, etc. The fifth floor contains the sur- 
 plus stock of seeds, in packages, which is drawn on as required down 
 stairs. Here, far above the constant movements and inevitable racket of 
 the region below, is a large chamber with a long table, pierced at in- 
 tervals with holes like those of letter boxes. It is here that the cashier, 
 with sometimes as many as six assistants, presides at the opening of 
 the daily mail, no trifling job, often comprising 7000 orders by letter or 
 postal card. Each letter, as it is opened, is entered, and the money 
 contained in it dropped into one of the holes intended for it, and made 
 for cash, money orders, or postal notes, respectively. The orders, 
 properly sorted out, then go to the different departments for filling. 
 
98 SELECTION IN SEED GRO WING. 
 
 I have not yet spoken of the enormous quantity of printed matter 
 which is on every floor. No one knows better than Mr. Burpee the 
 value of printers' ink, and his catalogues, of which there are five dif- 
 ferent kinds, are printed to the extent of 500,000 annually. The 
 mailing of the new catalogues for 1893 commenced on December 4th 
 last and will not be completed before the end of January. Besides 
 this class of literature, the firm publishes another of equal interest to 
 the general public. These books, well written, printed, and bound in 
 paper and cloth, are largely sold and also distributed as premiums to 
 buyers. Their titles are to be found in the catalogue, which is cer- 
 tainly in the hands of every florist. 
 
 The department of Mr. Giles Leahy, that of advertising and print- 
 ing, and to whom I am indebted for the above information, is not the 
 least important one of this vast establishment. 
 
 I forgot to mention an important chamber I looked in at through a 
 window, but could not enter, as only one man has a key. It is the 
 repository of the most valuable stock seeds. 
 
 Descending this time as low as the vast cellar used for potatoes and 
 other bulky stock, I reascended to the office, where Mr. Burpee gave 
 me much further valuable information. 
 
 The firm has a large storehouse for seeds on Third Street, and a 
 model seed farm at Fordhook, in Bucks County, which will be, we 
 hope, visited and made the subject of a special article at an early date, 
 and where Messrs. Burpee & Co. raise also fine live stock. 
 
 I left this hive of industry deeply impressed with its size, the vast 
 extent of territory it supplies, not only in the United States but in 
 Europe, even Russia sending large orders, and, above all, with the 
 wonderful system in force, by which the head of the firm controls from 
 his office every department, each of which has its separate manager, 
 and by which every order can be traced at any distance of time from 
 its receipt in the office to its delivery to the buyer. 
 
 The arrangements for testing the seeds, whose quality has made the 
 reputation of the firm, belong to Fordhook, and will be described when 
 that interesting place is visited. 
 
Why We Publish 
 Books on Horticulture. 
 
 TN the success of the planter is the germ of our 
 success. First, the best Seeds, Bulbs, and 
 Plants; next, the plainly told practice of ac- 
 cepted experts in gardening. This is why we publish 
 books on Horticulture, and from a modest begin- 
 ning this feature of our business has grown to very 
 considerable proportions. The past year we distrib- 
 uted 73,475 volumes, which shows how fortunate 
 we are in publishing bucks the people want. 
 
 Our Books Free. 
 
 With the standard high and the price low, we go 
 further, — by allowing a credit of ton cents on every 
 dollar sent us for seeds, plants, or bulbs toward the 
 purchase of any book published by us. Thus, a 
 $2.00 order, with 10 cts. added, can select any book 
 offered for 30 cts.; with 30 cts. added, any book 
 offered for 50 cts. Or, a $3.00 order can select en- 
 tirely free any book offered for 30 cts., or a 85.00 
 order any book offered for 50 cts., and so en. we more 
 than meeting our customers half way in our desire 
 to give them Free the best books for the Farm and 
 Garden. 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., 
 
 475 and 477 N. Fifth St., and 476 and 478 York Ave., 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
r^' 
 
 *m BEAVTIFVL 
 fLPWER GARDEN. 
 
 BY THE WELL-KNOWN BOSTON ARTIST, 
 
 F. SCHUYLER MATHEWS, 
 
 IN COLLABORATION WITH ARTHUR FEWKS, 
 OF NEWTON HIGHLANDS, MASS. 
 
 We are confident this new book will mark an 
 epoch in artistic flower-gardening, to which people 
 everywhere are turning such close attention. Art 
 is simple and natural ; — yet where is a teacher 
 more needed than in simple, natural arrangement? 
 There are many gardens laid out with evident care, 
 yet even in these it must be admitted that some- 
 thing is lacking, and Mr. Mathews says, " all 
 4*, will agree with me that this something is art in 
 ""* gardening." Who is better able to tell us what 
 'p-rv properly pertains to the subject than a trained 
 1 vO° ' artist who is also an enthusiastic amateur gar- 
 ■$? dener? The pages are literally overflowing with 
 v oV> pen-and-ink sketches made from nature, so that the 
 7^]f ' V* veriest novice may easily learn to arrange plants and 
 r ' J jS? flowers harmoniously. The artist-author has drawn from 
 ■; C^ the best in the artistic world of gardening, showing the influ- 
 sv a ence of the formal English style, also that of the Italian renaissance 
 period, not overlooking the influence exerted by the Japanese, who 
 are a wonderfully artistic people. 
 
 Above everything, harmony should rule in the garden ; all nature pro- 
 claims the principle : " art itself is nature." Therefore, the most elaborative atten- 
 tion is given by the author to making plain the principles of harmony. 
 
 Not the least important part of this valuable book is that devoted to the careful 
 description of flowers which may be easily procured and grown from seeds, bulbs, and 
 cuttings. Bright sketches show the form and habit of growth of each class. The 
 closing chapters are devoted to careful cultural directions by Arthur Fewks, a 
 professional grower of wide reputation. All the works previously published on this 
 subject are elaborate and expensive, treating for the most part of the management of 
 great estates and parks; this book is for the million seeking to surround their homes 
 with nature in her charming moods. We therefore consider it to our interest to make 
 the price actually less than the cost per copy for the first edition. 
 
 Finely illustrated, and in handsomely designed covers. 
 Price 50 cts., postpaid. 
 •Ct>-C"C AC A TiOCMTTTM Any $5.00 order can, if desired by the purchaser, 
 rivCC Ao A 1 KCl'llUrl. include, entirely free, a copy of this new book ; 
 or, if your order amounts to $2.00, you can get it for 30 cents added. 4®=* We allow 
 a credit of 10 cents on each Dollar. 
 
 •^8& 
 
 Published by W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
Injurious Insects 
 
 AND THE USE OF INSECTICIDES. 
 A NEW BOOK. 
 
 By FRANK W. SEMPERS, 
 
 Director of Fordhook Chemical Laboratory ; author of MANURES : 
 How to Make and How to Use Them. 
 
 A very complete and convenient treatise on insects destruc- 
 tive to Fruit, Field, and Garden crops. Contains the latest and 
 best methods for preventing insect injuries and gives reliable for- 
 mulas for making insecti- 
 
 cides. This book is plainly 
 written for the million, 
 and is filled with life-like 
 illustrations which will 
 greatly aid the farmer in 
 identifying his insect foes. 
 
 Synopsis of the Con- 
 texts : — Natural and 
 Artificial Methods of De- 
 stroying Insects — Insect- 
 icides, with Full Direc- 
 tions for Making and 
 Using Them — Insects 
 Injurious to Orchard and 
 Garden Fruits — Insects 
 Destructive to Vegetable 
 Crops and to Grains and 
 Grasses — Those which 
 Annoy Domestic Animals 
 — Insects of the House- 
 hold. 
 
 A book badly needed by every one who has a Farm or Garden. 
 PRICE, POSTPAID, 50 CENTS. 
 
 PfPP ilQ <\ Pr*Pmilim -^" v 85.00 order can, if desired hv the purchaser, include. 
 11^ aa a. ruuuiuu. entirely free, a copy of this new book. See above. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
ONIONS FOR PROFIT. 
 
 A Full and Complete Hand=Book of Onion Growing. 
 
 At last we publish a really complete hand-book on Onion grow- 
 ing, the first ever issued ; it is by Mr. T. Gkeiner, the author of 
 the New Onion Culture, of which book he says: "The New 
 Onion Culture was intended mostly to present a new phase of 
 the business, and to encourage further researches in an entirely 
 new direction. As a ' Hand-book of Onion Growing ' it has short- 
 comings and is far from 
 being complete. It leaves 
 too much room for per- 
 sonal inquiries. I have 
 looked the field of horti- 
 cultural literature in 
 America over pret ty 
 closely, and am unable to 
 find a hand-book for the 
 Onion grower the teach- 
 ings of which are based 
 on modern methods and 
 embody (as they should 
 in order to justify any 
 claims of being ' up-to- 
 the-times ' ) the two meth- 
 ods, the old and the new, 
 in profitable combina- 
 tion." 
 
 XGREIffiR 
 
 f -- v ^»*-— > 
 PUBLISHED 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, P/V 
 
 There is Big Money 
 
 in Onions: $500, and even 
 more, per acre, if you know 
 how to get it out. This money 
 is for the " up-to-the-times " 
 market gardener, the progres- 
 sive farmer, and the bright 
 farmer's boy everywhere. No more practical and successful Onion grower than 
 Mr. Greiner can be found, and he gives his latest knowledge in Onions for 
 Profit without reserve. The book will undoubtedly mark an epoch in works 
 on this subject. 
 
 Every reasonable question as to Onion growing is answered in its over one 
 hundred pages, which are enlivened with fully fifty illustrations prepared for 
 this book, making it handsome as well as valuable. 
 
 Price, Postpaid, 50 Cents, 
 
 or can be selected FREE as a premium on or- 
 ders amounting to FIVE DOLLARS or more. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
Brief extracts from reviews in leading 
 agricultural papers of Oxions for Profit. 
 
 From American Florist, Chicago, III., Feb. 16, 1S93. 
 
 It contains ample information covering every point in 
 onion culture, from sowing to harvesting. 
 
 From Atlanta Constitution, A thud,,, Go., Feb. i 
 m The onion-grower will find the hook a profitable and 
 mteresting study. It " covers the ground," as the onions 
 do, and contains much valuable information. 
 
 From Country Gentleman, Albany, K Y, Feb. 16, 1893. 
 The author's experience is freely drawn on. covering 
 both systems, and he has no " trade secrets " to keep back 
 from his loss experienced fellow gardeners. 
 
 From Farm and Fireside, Springfield, Ohio, 
 
 May 1, 1S93. 
 A complete hand-book or guide to successful and profit- 
 able onion growing. In this book market gardeners will 
 find clearly told all the valuable " trade secrets" of the 
 improved methods that have revolutionized onion culture. 
 
 From Farm Journal, Philadelphia, March, 1893. 
 
 There is a growing interest in this subject. The author 
 is well fitted to tell others what he knows about onions 
 and big enough to have no secrets. His knowledge is for 
 all, and can be bought of the publishers for fifty cents, 
 by mail. 
 
 From Massachusetts Ploughman, Boston, Mass., 
 
 Feb. 18, 1893. 
 Mr. T. Greiner, the well-known gardener and agricul- 
 turist has just written an admirable detailed and illus- 
 trated description of the new methods used in onion 
 growing by the most progressive gardeners. Mr. Greiner 
 has the rather rare qualifications of being both a prac- 
 tical and successful gardener, and also a very clear and 
 concise writer. 
 
 From Florist's Exchange, New York fit,/, Feb. 11, 1893. 
 
 He answers the question, " Does onion growing pav ? " 
 as follows:— b hi } 
 
 "Onions are just the crop for extensive' farming. The 
 pig item in their production is well-directed labor, not 
 land. Their culture involves souk; risk of loss to the 
 unskilled and shiftless grower; but it also affords one of 
 the best chances to get comparatively large returns from 
 a little land well tilled. 
 
 " With the exception of celerv I could not name a single 
 crop so promising in this respect as the onion crop." 
 
 The present production of the onion in the United States has 
 reached enormous proportions, and yet hundreds of thousands of 
 bushels are annually imported. 
 
 It seems to me that California and some of our Southern States can 
 grow just as good onions as any of the countries named, and they 
 should try to catch a little of this trade in mild foreign sorts.— 
 Geeinee. 
 
Celery for Profit. 
 
 All agree that Celery offers greater chances for making money 
 than any other garden crop. The difficulties encountered by the 
 old methods of growing, however, made success uncertain, and sure 
 only with comparatively few expert growers. Modern methods 
 make all this uncertainty a thing of the past. From the same 
 area which would give $100.00 in any other vegetable, you 
 
 may take $400.00 or even 
 $500.00 in Celery, if you 
 know how. This new 
 book, just published, is 
 written by T. Greiner, 
 author of Onions for 
 Profit, and other books 
 on gardening. It tells 
 how to dispense with 
 nine-tenths of the labor 
 generally thought neces- 
 sary in Celery growing, 
 and how to make the 
 business pay really big 
 profits. Under the right 
 culture and conditions 
 several thousand dollars' 
 worth of Celery can be 
 raised on a single acre. 
 The book is thoroughly 
 complete in every detail, and is embellished with many helpful 
 and original illustrations. Here is a glimpse of the table of 
 contents : — 
 
 Generalities— An Introduction-The Early Celery— The New Celery Culture— 
 The Irrigation Problem-The Fall and Winter Crop— Winter Storage— Mar- 
 keting Problems — Varieties, etc., etc. 
 
 Price, Postpaid, 30 Cents, 
 
 or can be selected FREE as a premium with any 
 order amounting to THREE DOLLARS or more. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
Brief extracts from editorial 
 reviews of Celery for Profit. 
 
 From Mirror and Farmer, Manchester, X. II , 
 
 March 16, 2895. 
 
 Tells all about celery culture. 
 
 From Ohio Farmer, Cleveland, Ohio, March V>, is:*.;. 
 
 A paper-cover book of 85 pages, embracing the whole 
 science and art of celery growing, fully illustrated 
 
 From Southern Cultivator, Atlanta, Ga., Map, 1893. 
 A very useful little pamphlet on the cultivation of 
 celery, giving an exposition of the modern methods of 
 growing this toothsome and popular vegetable. 
 
 From Western Plowman, Moline, I it., March 15, 1895. 
 By the improved methods shown celery raising is not 
 the difficult and laborious operation that it once was. 
 We commend this little work and advise our readers to 
 invest thirty cents in a copy of it. 
 
 From Gleanings in Bee Culture, Medina, Ohio, 
 
 March 1, 1893. 
 It is written in the author's bright, hopeful, and 
 intensely happy and interesting vein, and the illustra- 
 tions all through are up to the very latest date. It covers 
 the ground of the new celery culture entirely. 
 
 From Farm and Fireside, Springfield, Ohio, May 1,1893. 
 Not only every grower of celery for market, but every 
 one who lias a garden ought to have tins book. Growers 
 can learn bow to multiply their profits. Celery culture 
 is made so plain that there is no longer an excuse for the 
 borne garden being without its patch of this choice and 
 most wholesome vegetable. 
 
 From Massachusetts Ploughman, Boston. Mass., 
 
 March 11, 1893. 
 Mr. Greiner, in bis admirable, concise, and practical 
 style, details the recent great improvements in the 
 methods of growing celery for both market and home 
 use. The book is handsomely printed and illustrated 
 with numerous cuts, and is well worth reading by all 
 celery growers, whether experienced or not. 
 
 From Garden and Forest, New York City, May 17,1893. 
 This little band-book, although it contains less than a 
 hundred pages, tells the amateur planter in the plainest 
 possible manner all that be needs to know in order to 
 grow a crop of celery in his home-garden, and then how 
 to preserve it properly through the winter. Perhaps the 
 most interesting chapter is that devoted to the "new 
 celery culture," which consists in growing the plants 80 
 closely together that they blanch in their own shade. 
 
 Only ten years ago celery was a rarity and a luxury. 
 
 How different now. You find a little patch of celery in every com- 
 plete home garden. 
 
 People have learned to like the taste of the vegetable, and they 
 will have it. 
 
 This means a steady move in the right direction— away from an 
 excessive, almost exclusive, meat diet, and toward civilization and 
 refinement.— Greixek. 
 
MANURES: 
 
 How to Make and How to Use Them 
 
 A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE CHEMISTRY OF 
 MANURES AND MANURE MAKING. 
 
 This new book on the chemistry of manures and manure making is a 
 complete and really important work, written specially for the use of farmers, 
 horticulturists, and market gardeners, by Frank W. Sempers, Director of 
 the Fordhook Chemical Laboratory. 
 
 It clearly explains the 
 principles underlying soil 
 fertilization and gives the 
 best known scientific meth- 
 ods for preparing and apply- 
 ing natural and artificial 
 manures on the farm. It 
 has been demonstrated by 
 several of the State Agri- 
 cultural Experiment Sta- 
 tions and by scores of pro- 
 gressive farmers that chemi- 
 cal manures equal to the best 
 ready-made mixtures can be 
 made on the farm, without 
 the aid of machinery and at 
 great saving in cost. The 
 different raw materials en- 
 tering into the composition 
 of fertilizers are plainly 
 described, and the best com- 
 mercial sources of supply 
 given. Considerable space 
 is devoted to tried and 
 proved formulas, drawn from 
 the latest scientific re- 
 searches in America, Eng- 
 land, France, and Germany. 
 Simple explanations are also given of some terms in chemical technology 
 used in the State Agricultural Reports and in the general agricultural and 
 horticultural literature of the day. The arrangement and classification 
 are in accordance with the best scientific usage, and every formula is the 
 result of actual field experiment. The preparation of this book has in- 
 volved a large amount of careful work. 
 
 Price, Postpaid, 50 Cents, 
 
 or can be selected FREE as a premium on or- 
 ders amounting to FIVE DOLLARS or more. 
 
 HOW TO MAKE 
 
 AND 
 
 HOW TO USETHEM 
 
 N^j» 
 
 W.ATLEE BURPEE&O? 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
All About 
 
 Sweet Peas 
 
 Revised and Enlarged. 
 
 Last season we published a little monograph, 
 All About Sweet Peas. It was so enthusiastic- 
 ally received that 52,577 copies were asked for 
 and sent out. From the correspondence that fol- 
 lowed we estimate that fully 200,000 persons read 
 this monograph. This wonderful fact emphatic- 
 ally calls for a book. We have, therefore, prepared 
 a beautifully illustrated volume with the fixed 
 purpose of furnishing a complete epitome of the 
 literature of this fragrant annual. The author is, 
 of course, Rev. W. T. Hutchins, a most enthusi- 
 astic and successful grower, and an authority 
 upon the subject. Our new book is complete, 
 exhaustive, and carefully edited. From our 137 
 trials at Fordhook and comparative soil tests 
 conducted by our chemist, Mr. Sempers, in sev- 
 eral sections- of the country, we can safely say 
 that cultural directions and fertilizers suggested 
 are authoritative. Price, postpaid, only 20 cents. 
 
 Free as a Premium with any $2.00 Order. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
How to Cook Vegetables, 
 
 BY MRS. S. T. RORER. 
 
 Principal of the Philadelphia Cooking School, Editor of Table Talk, 
 Author of Mrs. Rorer's Cook Book, Etc. 
 
 This new book, published by us, has met with success beyond 
 our most sanguine expectations. Every family wants a copy, as 
 Mrs. Rorer is acknowledged authority by thousands of the best 
 housekeepers everywhere. As all the proof-sheets have been care- 
 fully revised by her personally, " HOW TO COOK VEGETA- 
 BLES" will be found thoroughly trustworthy. The recipes 
 given have all been proven by Mrs. Rorer from practical tests in the 
 kitchen and on the table. 
 
 •CA 
 
 \0>, 
 
 '~£ 
 
 
 
 It is a book of 182 pages 
 of the same size as The Kitchen 
 Garden, and gives numerous 
 recipes for cooking all vari- 
 eties of vegetables in every 
 style — many of which will be 
 new even to the most experi- 
 enced housewives. As an illus- 
 tration of how thoroughly the 
 subject is treated, we would 
 I v'V'y, __- w- mention that it gives forty 
 
 <4 B^T/C^I DkHS<^vV wa ^ s of cookin 8' potatoes 
 m B&l tw/*J^$~^^r\ twenty-six of tomatoes, aud 
 IIm ( ,p C2« twenty-two of corn. It also 
 
 \S ^JvL, ( L( N \ — ' gives "twenty-eight recipes for 
 
 ^ «_ <XrC ■' s. ^H making Soups and thirty- 
 
 Wi ^ In _-**"» .V <r™ seven recipes for Salads. 
 
 Besides " How to Cook Vege- 
 tables," it also tells numerous 
 ways How to Pickle,— How 
 to Preserve Fruits,— How 
 to Can for Winter Use, as 
 well as how to serve vegetables 
 cold. 
 
 An important supplement to 
 the general scope of this 
 treatise is the addition, also by 
 Mrs. Rorer, of nearly fifty 
 complete Menus, for spring, 
 summer, autumn, and winter. 
 In all, it is a most complete 
 book, that will prove really 
 valuable to every progressive 
 housewife. 
 
 This new book, of which the copyright is owned by us, is not for sale, and 
 can onlv be had as a Premium By those who purchase Seeds, Bulbs, or Plants from 
 us In order to place it within the reach of all we offer the paper-cover edition 
 entirely FREE as a Premium on an order amounting to $3.00. A copy 
 substantially bound in cloth, for kitchen use, can be had free with an order 
 for $5.00. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
 
 £ 
 
 .PHI LADELPHIA 
 
HOW AND WHAT TO GROW 
 
 IX A 
 
 Kitchen Garden of One Acre. 
 
 r 
 
 FULLY ILLUSTRATED. 
 Price 50 Cents in Paper; 75 Cents in Cloth. 
 
 This new book of nearly 200 pages will prove very valuable 1o 
 all engaged in gardening : it gives sound, common-sense views and 
 
 practical teachings— so plain that the most inexperienced need not 
 
 fail — so complete that experi- 
 enced gardeners can read it 
 with pleasure and profit. It is 
 fully illustrated, and enters so 
 thoroughly into details that it 
 will undoubtedly be warmly 
 welcomed by the thousands 
 who inquire, every year, What 
 is the best book on Garden= 
 ing? Among other subjects 
 its contents embrace : — 
 Selecl ion of Location— Preparing the 
 Soil— Laying out the Garden to in- 
 clude the various Vegetables and 
 Fruits, and securing to each the 
 Most Suitable Location — Planting 
 and Care of Small Fruits— The Best 
 Varieties of Small Fruits, and Har- 
 vesting Same — Directions for Mak- 
 ing and Care of Hot-beds— Raising 
 Vegetable Plants — Transplanting 
 —Sowing Seeds— Practical Directions for the Special Cultivation of all Vege- 
 tables— Notes on the Merits of the Different Varieties of Vegetables— Manures 
 —Description, Proper Uses, and Care of Garden Implements— How to Grow 
 Second Crops to best Economize the Land and Manure— The Winter Storage of 
 Vegetables — The Use and Management of Told Frames in Winter — Winter 
 Care and Pruning of Small Fruits— Culture of Succulent Roots and Bulbs- 
 Herbs, their Uses and Manner of Growing. 
 
 g^^The paper-cover edition can be had FREE, as a premium, 
 
 on a seed order of §5.00 ; or bound in cloth, on a seed order amount- 
 ing to $7.50. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
The Poultry Yard 
 
 HOW TO FURNISH AND MANAGE IT. 
 
 By W. Atlee Burpee. Fully illustrated. We have just 
 issued another edition of this popular book, very much amended, 
 with up-to-the-times methods and usages. Besides the de- 
 scriptions of the leading 
 Land and Water Fowls, 
 it also contains chapters 
 on the 
 
 Best Plans of Poultry 
 Houses— How to Make In- 
 cubators — Selection and 
 Mating of Stock— What 
 and How to Feed- 
 General Management — 
 French Method of Kill- 
 ing—Dressing and Ship- 
 ping Poultry — Eggs and 
 Chickens— D irections 
 for caponizing with 
 Plain Illustrations — 
 Diseases with Tried and 
 Proven Prescriptions — 
 How to Raise Good Tur- 
 keys, etc., etc. 
 
 Price in paper covers, 
 handsomely designed, 
 
 50 cts. ; bound in cloth, 75 cts., postpaid. 
 The paper-cover edition can be had FREE, as a premium, 
 on a seed order of $5.00; or bound in cloth on a seed order 
 
 amounting to $7. 50. 
 
 published by 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
 BURPEE'S MANUAL OF THOROUGHBRED LIVE STOCK for 1893, 
 the most complete of its kind, FREE upon application. 
 
HOWTOGROWCABBAGESAndCAULIFLOWERS 
 MOST PROFITABLY. 
 
 This book gives complete information on the successful growing <>i 
 these important crops, and treats fully on : — 
 
 How to succeed with CABBAGES- -The Best Soils— The Cabbage 
 a Greedy Feeder — Manures — Planting and Cultivation —Insects — Early 
 Cabbages— Late Cabbages— Catting and Marketing. 
 
 CAULIFLOWER— Selection of Land -Making Seed Red and 
 Sowing Seed — Cultivation — Enemies of the Cauliflower — Varieties — 
 Tying and Bleaching — Packing for Market — How to Keep for Winter 
 t'se. Illustrated. Peice, Postpaid, 30 Cents. 
 
 FREE AS A PREMIUM on any order amounting to $3.00 or wore. 
 
 HOW TO GROW ONIONS. 
 
 Published in 1888, tbis is a thoroughly reliable guide for all who 
 purpose growing this most profitable crop. It gives in full the prize 
 essay, with the above title, by Mr. T. Greixer, also Onion Growing 
 by Irrigation, by Col. C. A. Ablie, of Lake View, Oregon — care- 
 fully edited, with additional notes, including an article on growing 
 Sets, by W. Atlee Buepee. Illustrated. Peice 30 Cents. 
 EREE ASA PREMIUM on any order amounting to $3.00 or more. 
 
 HOW TO GROW MELONS FOR MARKET. 
 
 In order to present the subject to our readers in the most compre- 
 hensive and concise manner, we have compiled from the PEIZE ESSAYS, 
 and our own experience, a treatise that we think will be of value to 
 every Melon grower. It treats of both Muskmelons and Watermelons, 
 with full information on the selection of soil, nse and application of 
 manures, selection of suitable and profitable varieties, planting of seed, 
 destruction of insects, copious notes on the cultivation, how to grow 
 extra large melons, bow and when to gather for market, etc. 
 
 Illustrated. Peice, Postpaid, 30 Cents. 
 EREE AS A PREMIUM on any order amounting to $3-00 or more. 
 
 ROOT CROPS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 
 
 Every Farmer <m<l s/oi-L- Breeder, especially those who have never 
 grown Loot Crops, should read ROOT Crops for Stock FEEDING, and 
 How to Grow Them. Illusteated. A practical little treatise com- 
 piled from the Prize Essays. Edited by W. Atlee Buepee, with 
 copious additions from our own experience in growing these crops. It 
 treats fully not only on How to Grow, but also How to Store and How 
 to Feed ; it also gives careful notes on the most profitable varieties. 
 Root Crops for Stock Feeding is a subject of the greatest importance to 
 every farmer who desires the Farm to Pay a Profit. 
 
 Illustrated. Price, Postpaid, 30 Cents. 
 EREE AS A PREMIUM on any order amounting to $3.00 or more. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA, 
 
t s 
 
 I Our Catalogues, Published Annually, are: ~- 
 
 } BURPEE'S FARM ANNUAL. This is the foundation. See next page. > 
 
 Special Advertisement of BURPEE'S SEEDS. This is an abridged 
 catalogue, descriptive mostly of our Novelties, which is mailed to those 
 names on our books from whom, for one reason or another, we did not receive 
 an order the previous season. It is an invitation to apply for our Farm 
 Annual, if the recipient is still in need of seeds, — the Farm Annual being 
 too expensive to mail broadcast unless it is actually wanted. 
 
 ) Illustrated Circular of UNTRIED NOVELTIES. See synopsis given 
 
 5 on page 35. Issued January 15th, and mailed to our customers free on 
 
 j application. 
 
 ^ BURPEE'S BLUE LIST. Special price list of Seeds in Bulk for 
 
 £ market gardeners and florists who have occasion to purchase in large 
 
 C quantities. Mailed to the secretary of any Farmers' Club, Market Gardener, 
 
 « or Florist on application. 
 
 S BURPEE'S RED LIST. This is a Wholesale Price List of 
 
 ? Seeds for dealers only. In response to numerous inquiries, we would state 
 
 | emphatically that we never send out boxes of seeds to be sold on commission, 
 
 £ but supply first-class seeds to dealers willing to pay a fair price for them. 
 
 C This catalogue is sent only to bona fide dealers in seeds. 
 
 BURPEE'S MANUAL OF THOROUGHBRED LIVE STOCK. This 
 
 is issued in January of each year, and is a most complete illustrated catalogue 
 of Thoroughbred Sheep, Swine, Fancy Poultry, and Kough-Coated 
 Scotch Collie Dogs. It is sent without request to all live-stock customers 
 of the previous year, and is mailed to all others FREE on application. 
 4®=* Every Stock Breeder, Poultry Fancier, and all Farmers interested in 
 improved stock should write for it. The many illustrations are accurately 
 engraved from nature, and the merits of the different breeds are fairly 
 presented. If you want a copy, send a postal card asking for the "Illus- 
 trated Manual op Thoroughbred Live Stock." 
 
 2 FORDHOOK COLLIE KENNELS. This is the title of a special illus- 
 
 y trated folio of Scotch Collies, as bred at Fordhook Farm, with photo- 
 
 r gravure illustrations and much interesting information. Mailed in a circu- 
 
 £ lar tube on receipt of a two-cent postage stamp. 
 
 »" BURPEE'S CATALOGUE OF FLOWERING BULBS, PLANTS, £ 
 
 I AND SEEDS FOR AUTUMN PLANTING. A complete illustrated cata- £ 
 
 | logue of Hyacinths, Tulips, Crocus, and other bulbs and flower roots for i 
 
 h winter blooming and fall planting; also embracing seasonable seeds and ^ 
 
 | plants. Issued September 1st of each year. Free on application. 2 
 
 t W.ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. | 
 
 £ £ 
 
BURPEE'S 
 
 FARM ANNUAL. 
 
 ■The Leading American Seed Catalogue.- 
 
 For truth, knowledge, and fairness Burpee's Farm Annual is 
 looked to as the model seed catalogue of America. 
 
 Its mission is to show the hest seeds that grow within the reach of all: 
 Seed planters everywhere helieve in it. Our hrethren in the seed trade 
 pay it and us honor by quoting from its pages ; the editors of influential 
 papers — whose good opinion we all value — compliment it highly. 
 
 The following extracts from four reflect hundreds of reviews : 
 One of the Most Complete. 
 
 From The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pa., March 19, 1S93. 
 
 The Farm Annual, published by W. Atlee Burpee A Co., Philadelphia, 
 is one of the most complete works on the science of seed growing that 
 
 has yet been brought to the attention of the public. This catalogue is a most 
 valuable one to farmers, gardeners, and florists, and its accurate descriptions 
 may be relied upon as true to nature. 
 
 By Common Consent at the Head. 
 
 From The New York CENTRAL News. Utica, X. }'., March SO, 1893. 
 
 By common consent, BUBPKE'S Farm Annual stands at the head of all 
 similar works; but, better than all this, their choice seeds, which are all 
 thoroughly tested by them and only the very best sent out to their customers. 
 have acquired a world-wide reputation. 
 
 Honor and Honesty of the Seller. 
 
 From The Ottawa County Times, Holland, Mich., March 25, 189S. 
 
 Experience has taught us that the descriptions given in BURPEE'S Farm 
 Annual of the products of their seeds are accurate and not overdrawn. In 
 no other business, perhaps, is the buyer so entirely dependent upon the 
 honor and honesty of the seller as in the business of seed buying. 
 
 A Mirror of the Best Seeds. 
 
 Fom The Watertown Tost, Watertown, N. >'., April 18, 1893. 
 
 Of all the catalogues sent out by American seedsmen, that of W. Atlee 
 Burpee & Co. is unsurpassed in arrangement, illustrations, and honest de- 
 scriptions. It lias taken many years of labor and millions of capital to develop 
 and perfect this great industry of seed growing, of which the Fakm ANNUAL 
 is a mirror, reflecting in its pages all that is best in the world of seeds. 
 
 The new edition is issued January 1st and mailed promptly to each 
 one of our customers, beginning with the far South and West. Any 
 seed planter is welcome to a copy free. Others should enclose ten 
 cents, which is less than cost in quarter-million editions. 
 
 W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO.,- 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS