B.P.I.-26. Bot.LE.-48. 



LIST OF AMERICAN VARIETIES OF VEGETABLES 



FOB THE YEARS 1901 AM) L902. 



INTRODUCTION. 



This list is intended as an index or catalogue to serve the purposes 

 of seedsmen and experimenters, and aims to supply information which 

 can not be readily found in seedsmen's catalogues. For those who 

 wish to obtain a certain variety the names are given of all seedsmen 

 in the United States and Canada who catalogue that variety; forthose 

 who inquire for synonymous varieties there will in many cases be 

 found synonyms given with the name- of the seedsmen who cite them 

 as such; while for those who look for a shortening and simplifying of 

 our already long and complex list of name- there will he found here a 

 foundation upon which such work can he carried on. 



Variety names of vegetables in this country are being greatly multi- 

 plied every year by the renaming of old varieties. This practice, as 

 well a- the giving to new varieties names similar to names already 

 used, has made the nomenclature of the whole very complex and mis- 

 leading. The 320 names of lettuce entered in the list, for example. 

 could be reduced to less than 90 distinct varieties, and the similarity 

 of man v of the names and the distinctions which must be borne in 

 mind t<> separate the varieties make the whole subject very bewilder- 

 ing. To illustrate, the Favorite, Kudolph's Favorite, Sutton 1 * Favor- 

 ite". Florida Favorite, and Gardeners" Favorite varieties of lettuce refer 

 to types very different from one another, while Early Dutch Butter, 

 Dutch Speckled Butter. HornbergeFs Dutch Butter, Philadelphia 

 Dutch Butter, and Philadelphia Butter all refer, except the la-st, to the 

 same variety. Besides this, there are often several different types of 

 the same variety recognized by different seedsmen, as is well illus- 

 trated by the case of the Philadelphia Butter and Silver Ball varieties. 



Besides being useful for reference, this list, it is hoped, will bring 

 about some desirable changes, of which the first to be mentioned is the 

 adoption of a single name for all identical varieties. There are, how- 

 ever, some difficulties in the way which should be well understood 

 before such work is undertaken. Where the names are similar the 

 varieties are generally identical, but, as already pointed out, there are, 



